


Disney Bound

by DesertSnowQueen



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Actual Disney Princess Adrien Agreste, Adrien has trouble dealing, Adrien is Rapunzel in more ways than one, Chat Noir is a Disney Princess, Crack, F/M, Fluff and Crack, Full Reveal, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, It gets fixed, Love, Maribug has to save her boy, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, Sassy Marinette Dupain-Cheng, True Love's Kiss, adrien finds out what happens when he cataclyms a person, an act of true love, but here we are, but now Marinette isn't the only princess, but now there's some angst, he actually becomes several disney princesses, i wasn't supposed to, it all ends well I promise, it's a long ass battle, like i'm not being sarcastic, love fixes everything y'all, love square ridiculousness, no one questions why Marinette occasionally saves Chat, partial reveal, she teases her kitty, this is all one akuma fight, this is mostly G but the rating is for the one angsty chapter because drama, this was supposed to be pure crack, who put angst in my crack?...oops I did
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-04-27 05:25:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 31,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14418618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertSnowQueen/pseuds/DesertSnowQueen
Summary: When a girl who isn't allowed to go to Disneyland gets akumatized, she decides that Adrien and Chat Noir would make good Disney Princesses. How many times will Marinette have to save them as herself and Ladybug?





	1. Cinderelly, Cinderelly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is the prologue, and just to set the scene, so it's pretty short. I wish I could promise the rest of the chapters will be longer, but I can't...this was supposed to be like four short, funny chapters just to hit each of the corners of the Love Square, but then there was additional drama that decided it had to be written.
> 
> Anyway...enjoy it! It's the first fic I'm posting for this fandom (and on this website), so I'd love to hear what y'all think!

“No, Alyssa, you can’t go to Disney with your friends tomorrow. Your father and I need you to babysit your cousins,” the girl’s stepmom said, not even bothering to look up from the vegetables she was chopping. The girl fumed.

“Amanda, you promised me I could go! We’ve been planning this for months! It’s my eighteenth birthday! This isn’t fair!” Alyssa cried, the area around her eyes turning red as she fought tears.

“That was before your father got sick,” Amanda said, her voice flat, as if she was speaking to a spoiled child. “Things change. You can celebrate your birthday another day.”

“But Jason is moving to Spain next weekend to start university! We won’t get another time before he leaves!” she yelled, tears beginning to spill down her cheek. Jason had asked her out on her seventeenth birthday, and they had been dating ever since. It wasn’t a fairy-tale romance by any means, but it was her first real relationship and she loved him. She was really excited to spend her birthday with him as boyfriend and girlfriend. He had given her a green fluorite necklace as an early birthday present when they met up for date night the week before, and she had worn it every day since.

“Then you won’t celebrate your birthday with him,” Amanda said, adding the chopped vegetables to the pot on the stove. “Honestly, Alyssa, don’t waste your tears on someone who doesn’t matter. It’s not like you’re planning to marry this boy. He’ll probably find a new girlfriend once he gets to Spain and forget all about you. You really shouldn’t be so naive.”

“I hate you!” Alyssa screamed, her tears flowing freely now, clutching at her necklace. “You’re the worst thing to happen to this family!”

“Cute,” Amanda stated, rinsing off the knife she had been using. “Now go get started on your chores. Your sisters have laundry that needs doing.”

Alyssa ran out of the room, slamming the door to her bedroom as she flung herself onto her bed dramatically, not noticing that she had ripped off her necklace. She could practically feel her stepmother roll her eyes, but she didn’t care.

It wasn’t fair. She was turning eighteen! She and her friends had already bought their tickets to the park, and her friends had booked a hotel room for her and Jason for that night and extra tickets for the next day as her birthday present. Her stepsisters were nineteen! Surely they could babysit their cousins, not hers, instead and give her this one day!

“The poor princess is being kept from the ball,” a voice echoed in her head. Alyssa stopped crying to listen to what he had to say. “Every teenager should be allowed to celebrate their birthday with their friends. Locking a teenager inside on such an important day is just evil. I can give you the power to rewrite your story, and take control of your fairy tale. In return, you just have to fetch me Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous. Do we have a deal?”

“Yes, Hawk Moth,” she said as she pushed herself off of her bed. Purple magic washed over her. Where a sweet, blue-eyed girl with a honey-blonde ponytail once stood was now the Disney-Binder, wearing a blood red jacket that buttoned up around her neck, fastened with a glowing green broach. She wore a tattered, knee-length pink skirt, green and hot pink striped tights, and glass slippers on her feet. On her hands were delicate pink and blue gloves, matching the butterfly mask she wore that was light blue with light pink trim. Her once honey-blond ponytail was now in a stiff, crown-shaped bun on top of her head, looking as though it was made of solid gold. Her skin was now lavender, and her lips were hot pink. She smiled wickedly and blew a hole in her wall with a wave of her hand, flying off towards the Eiffel Tower.

Her stepmother ran into the room when she heard the crash, rolling her eyes when she saw the damage.

“Of course she got herself akumatized over that argument. She already makes my life more difficult, now she has to make Ladybug and Chat Noir’s lives more difficult as well?” Amanda asked the empty space, closing the door. “Maybe she’ll learn that she can’t always get what she wants this time.”

Disney-Binder arrived at the Eiffel Tower and landed on a rooftop next to it, looking down on the crowd. She began to match the bystanders with their perfect Disney tale, but one boy in particular caught her attention. He had shiny blonde hair and the greenest eyes she had ever seen.

She immediately had a list of fairy tales he would fit well in. One in particular stood out to her, perhaps because the boy was already standing under a tower, waiting to be rescued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The akuma design is supposed to be reminiscent of the main human characters in Cinderella. The red jacket/green broach for Lady Tremaine, the pink skirt for the dress the stepsisters ruined, the tights in honor of Anastasia and Drizella, the glass slippers for Cinderella (obviously), the crown hair for the prince (because he's royalty), and the gloves and mask for the Fairy Godmother. Her powers are reality manipulation, which I'm taking to mean she can blow things up and fly and other stuff because she's screwing up reality so why not?
> 
> Also this is set the Friday before the first day of school, which I'm assuming is in September.


	2. A Terrible Decision, Really

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien learns that mixing adrenaline and frying pans is a really bad idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Ladrien! Aka the first corner of the love square to get hit with a Disney reference (and yes that is a pun). Enjoy!

Adrien was standing underneath the Eiffel Tower, waiting for Nino to show up. He had just finished an early morning photoshoot in the area, and was grateful it was still summer vacation. Not that he hated school, but he was glad to be able to hang out with Nino outside of classes. It didn’t happen as often as he would like, and he had finally convinced Natalie to free up his schedule so he could see a movie with his friends before school started a few days later. They would meet Alya and Marinette there, along with Kim, Alix, Mylene, and Ivan. Afterwards, the plan was to go back to Marinette’s house for some snacks and hang out in the park across the street.

So when people started running in random directions, he mentally cursed Hawk Moth in every language he knows. It’s his day off! Can’t he get a day off as a superhero too? Doesn’t Hawk Moth ever take a break? What if he had been doing something important, like taking an exam, or if he worked for the government and was in a very important meeting when akumas attacked? Hawk Moth was really quite inconsiderate.

He finally noticed the akuma hovering near him, her blue gaze trained on him with frightening intensity. He needed to run, to find an alley or abandoned stairwell or even a doorjamb to transform in but he couldn’t get his feet to move. He was rooted where he stood, victim to the akuma’s whim.

When she laughed, it was a cruel sound, and it caused the cat in Adrien to leap ten feet. Or maybe that was just his heart jumping into his throat? He wasn’t usually targeted by akumas like this as a civilian. He didn’t like how it felt.

“Well aren’t you just a drop of sunshine,” the akuma cooed, a wicked glint in her eyes. “Sorry you had to get tangled up in all this, but my story would become a tragedy if you were lost.”

Adrien’s brow furrowed, because apparently when a walking fashion disaster with purple skin calls him a drop of sunshine the superhero in him shuts down. He had a feeling something she said was extremely important, but before he could process it, he found himself flying vertically through the air, scaling the Eiffel Tower faster than he ever had as Chat Noir. He didn’t like it. He did not like it at all. He’d like to say he didn’t scream at all while it happened. If he was being honest, it probably came out as more of a yowl. He just really hoped Ladybug didn’t hear him make that sound. He would never live it down.

He eventually came to a stop at the top of the tower, which had been transformed into some kind of room, with only a window as the entrance and exit. Which wasn’t really a problem, because he could just transform and get down on his own, but he had to make sure no one who had seen Adrien go into the strange new tower room would see Chat Noir come out of it. He began to pace, debating how long he should wait while adrenaline coursed through his veins (and possibly clouded his judgment). 

He heard someone zipping towards the tower room, and in preparation of a fight, he grabbed the nearest object—a large cast-iron frying pan—and hid next to the window where he wouldn’t immediately be seen by the akuma and could therefore have the element of surprise. Of course, this also meant that he couldn’t really see who came through the window, but that shouldn’t be a problem, right? After all, who else could it be?

He saw a flash of red and swung the frying pan. He hit the akuma solidly in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground with a loud clang. He pumped his fist in celebration, but that celebration was short lived when he noticed he hadn’t knocked her out. Growling in frustration, he clearly saw that she had just landed on her knees in a daze. He was about to swing again when his brain caught up with the rest of him. Suddenly he realized he was not, in fact, fighting the akuma that had launched him into the sky.

“Ladybug? Oh my god, I am so, so, so sorry!” he cried, dropping the frying pan in his shock. It clattered to the ground loudly, the sound making Ladybug wince.

“Oh, you stupid ca—Adrien?” she asked, looking up at him with her brows furrowed. Whether her expression was caused by pain or confusion, he couldn’t tell, but he quickly reached out a hand to her. She took it and allowed him to pull her up. “What are you doing up here? Have you seen Chat? I thought he was up here.”

“Chat Noir? No, no I haven’t seen him,” he said too quickly, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “Why, um, why did you think he was up here?”

“I thought I heard him yowl from the next arrondissement when I transformed, and I thought I saw him fly into this room when I got here…” she said, trailing off. She gave him a strange look, and he began to fidget. “Wait, Adrien, did you make that sound?”

“What? Psh, no! I think you may have hit your head harder than you thought, Ladybug,” he said, his voice strained as he tried to tease her, tried anything he could think of to get her attention off of him. She frowned.

“You were the one that hit me! With, is that a frying pan?” she exclaimed, somewhat indignant as she rubbed the back of her head again. He gave a sheepish smile.

“Yes? It was the first thing I saw. I am very, very, very sorry I hit you. I thought you were the akuma,” he started explaining, but trailed off when she raised a finger to silence him. He waited while she scanned the room and studied him closely. Her sudden laughter made him jump, but he found himself reveling in the sound of it.

“Oh my god, you’re Rapunzel,” she said in between giggles. At Adrien’s confused look, she just gestured vaguely to his face and the abused cooking utensil on the ground. “From Tangled! You know, the Disney movie?”

Adrien was silent for a moment as he thought back to the one time he had watched Tangled when it first came out. The pieces fit, he wasn’t going to lie: he had the blond hair, the green eyes, he was used to being locked away…

“Wait, she trapped me with a pun?” he sputtered indignantly. Of all the insults any akuma had thrown at him, trapping Chat freaking Noir with a pun was the worst. Those were his strong suit! They couldn’t be used against him! To his mild frustration, Ladybug just laughed harder.

“Alright, Princess, calm down,” she teased, and Adrien heard Plagg snicker quietly from inside his shirt pocket. “Let’s get you out of here.”

Adrien pouted as Ladybug grabbed onto him, fighting the blush that bloomed across his cheeks. She was still giggling, and the sound simultaneously made his heart soar and his blush deepen when he realized she was laughing at his expense. She swung the two of them out of the tower and down to a safe alleyway where a civilian would easily be able to hide from the battle, which conveniently made it the perfect place for him to transform.

“There you go, Blondie, safe and sound,” she said, and the smile she offered him was bright, if not a bit strained. He winced when he realized she was probably still in pain.

“Thank you, Ladybug. Again, I’m really, really sorry I hit you…” he apologized. She shook her head with a fond smile, and then suddenly her lips brushed against his cheek with just enough pressure to ensure that he would know exactly what she did. His eyes widened and his blush came back full-force as she pulled away, not quite making eye contact with him. He thought he noticed a hint of a blush peeking out from under her mask, but the red on her cheeks blended in with the red around her eyes like some kind of lucky love-camouflage.

“It’s okay. You have a good arm though, Adrien. If it wasn’t for my suit I’d probably have been knocked out or have a concussion, and then we might have had a bit of a problem, but I was transformed so it was all okay,” she said, taking a breath before she could start to ramble. “Just, don’t do it again, and we’ll call it even.”

“Oh, o-okay,” he stuttered, still too frozen from the sensation of her lips against his cheek to form a proper response. She giggled once more and waved a good-bye before swinging off to rejoin the battle.

It took Plagg waving a piece of camembert under his nose to snap him back to reality and remind him that he had to transform to help Ladybug fight this akuma. He was very thankful that he would have a mask to hide the blush that refused to fade from the simple kiss she left on his cheek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun writing this one, even though I struggle writing Ladrien. Awkward Adrien is my favorite. And Marinette has never been more thankful that their suits protect them from serious injury because that would have been one nasty concussion.


	3. It's Possible She Wants You, Too

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat gets thrown in the Seine and things take an amewsing turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ladynoir is starting to make waves! Also a gratuitous cameo from DjWifi.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Good morning, My Lady. You look pawsitively purrfect today,” Chat Noir said, falling into step next to Ladybug while she ran. She offered him a tight smile.

“Hey Chat. Nice of you to join us,” she said, noticing that her voice was a little strained. She still felt a dull pain in the back of her head from when Adrien hit her with that frying pan, and all of the running and sunlight and banter wasn’t really helping her headache. If Chat noticed anything different, however, he didn’t mention it.

They chased Disney-Binder along the banks of the Seine, dodging the people that were running for cover. They were racing across the Pont des Arts, past Andre’s ice cream truck when the akuma whipped around to face them, an evil grin twisting over her features as she looked around at the crowd that was quickly thinning out. The only people left on the bridge at this point were Alya, who was filming the fight for the Ladyblog, Nino, who was trying to keep his girlfriend out of the direct path of the akuma, and Chloe, who was actively ignoring all of the akuma safety rules she had ever, or never, learned in favor of trying to get Ladybug’s attention. Probably for another selfie. Ladybug rolled her eyes and moved to tell the girl to get somewhere safe, but was interrupted when the akuma decided to speak.

“Ah, Chat Noir has joined the fairy tale, I see! You’re just a treasure trove of potential,” Disney-Binder claimed, tapping her chin thoughtfully. Ladybug frowned and moved closer to Chat on instinct.

“Be careful, Kitty,” she warned him. “This akuma has been making people perform scenes from various Disney movies. I had to save Adrien Agreste from the top of the Eiffel Tower when she turned him into Rapunzel.”

“She turned Adrien Agreste into Rapunzel?” Alya cried, clearly trying to contain her laughter. Ladybug turned to look at her and nodded, barely containing her own laughter.

“He even hit me with a frying pan when I swung in to help him,” she said, oblivious to Chat Noir’s blush. Nino doubled over, unable to hold himself together.

“Of course he did,” Nino gasped out. “That’s just his luck.”

“Adrien Agreste is a Disney Princess, confirmed,” Alya declared, cackling. “But wait, why did he hit you?” 

“He said he was expecting the akuma to come through the window,” Ladybug explained, realizing that Adrien might be upset about this fact ending up on the Ladyblog. He seemed like he felt really bad about it. “He didn’t actually mean to hit me. I think he was just trying to be brave. It’s actually kind of sweet, but he needs to look before he acts next time.” 

Behind her, Chat huffed and turned to get Chloe out of the way, who had begun to complain loudly about how Ladybug was ignoring her. Ladybug wasn’t quite sure what had gotten his tail in a twist, but he was being strangely quiet. She would have thought she would be grateful for the break in banter given her headache, but his silence was concerning. She noticed the exposed skin on the back of his neck was red, and she frowned. 

Had he gotten sunburnt? Maybe it was one of those really bad burns that covers your whole back so you can’t move! That would be horrible to have under their super suits! No wonder he was so quiet…

“Not going to say anything, Chat Noir?” the akuma’s shrill voice drew her attention away from the possible cause of her partner’s discomfort just as he grabbed Chloe’s arm to drag her away. He glared up at Disney-Binder, about to speak when she interrupted him again. “I guess you aren’t one to underestimate the importance of body language! Ha!”

Ladybug looked at the akuma in confusion. Those words sounded familiar, but before she could place where she had heard them, Disney-Binder waved her hand in Chat’s direction. He and Chloe lifted up off the ground and were launched into the Seine before Ladybug could help them. She launched herself at the akuma, trusting Chat to get himself and her classmate out of the river safely.

Not even two minutes later, a dripping wet and very grumpy Chat Noir landed on the bridge near where Alya and Nino were hiding, glaring daggers at the akuma. Ladybug swung away from her and landed next to him so they could regroup.

“So, I can’t figure out where the akuma is. If I had to guess I would say it’s in her glass slipper, since she’s Cinderella-themed, but I don’t know. Do you have any suggestions?” she asked him. He looked like he was about to say something but then changed his mind, his frown deepening. Ladybug frowned and scanned the area, feeling as though something was missing… “Chat? Where’s Chloe?”

Her partner’s eyes widened slightly, and he started gesturing wildly, his mouth forming weird shapes but there was no sound coming out. She had to swat his hands away from her head when his frantic flailing got too close to hitting her, and they ended up in a very brief slap fight as a result.

“Chat! Chaton! Kitty, stop! Okay, whatever happened, we’ll fix it after we defeat the akuma. That’s the top priority. Can you try using your cataclysm on her slipper, please?” Ladybug asked. He nodded and threw his hand in the air with his eyes closed, passionately mouthing the word ‘cataclysm.’ When a couple of seconds passed he slowly opened one eye and then the other, pouting at his hand in defeat. Ladybug’s eyes widened.

“Chat, did you lose your voice?” she asked, her heart sinking when he nodded sadly. She clenched her jaw in frustration and tried to come up with a new plan, but something other than her headache from earlier nagged at the back of her mind, so she followed that thought trail instead, hoping for a revelation.

“Wait. Disney…lost voice…water…body language…um, Kitty? I think you’ve become the Little Mewmaid,” she said, cringing slightly at the pun. Chat grinned at her, but then his eyes widened and he was looking at something behind her. She spun on her heels and her jaw dropped. Standing on the bridge was Chloe, but her skin had turned the same lavender shade at the akuma’s. Her blonde ponytail had kelp tangled in it, and she was wearing a black dress that ended in eight octopus-like tentacles that were now her legs. She was glaring at Chat Noir like he had just stolen her kingdom out from under her, and Ladybug mentally face palmed at how obvious it was. “Yeah, Chat, you’re definitely Ariel…and apparently, Chloe is your sea witch.”

His skin paled considerably and his whole body tensed. He ducked behind Ladybug for protection, but it was short lived when Chloe began racing towards him. The two heroes were admittedly shocked with how fast Chloe was managing considering she had six more legs than she was used to, but Ladybug chalked it up to the akuma’s “Disney Magic.” She barely heard Alya and Nino’s snickers as Chat took off running down the riverbank again, his arms flailing wildly and Chloe hot on his heels.

“Chat Noir is a Disney Princess, confirmed,” Nino said suddenly. Alya just laughed harder while Ladybug tried to come up with a new plan for defeating the akuma.

“Hey, Ladybug,” Alya said, interrupting the heroine’s planning. “You said Chat was the Little Mermaid, right?”

“Yes,” Ladybug said slowly, not liking where she knew this conversation was going.

“Well, do you remember how the Little Mermaid got her voice back?” the aspiring journalist continued. Her voice had taken on a suggestive tone that Marinette was all too familiar with. Ladybug shot her a flat look.

“She broke Ursula’s shell necklace,” she said dryly. Alya frowned.

“Okay, do you remember how she was supposed to get her voice back?” she clarified. Ladybug huffed.

“We don’t have time for this,” she muttered before calling for her Lucky Charm. The red and black spotted object fell into her waiting hand and it was…chapstick. Her eyes flicked between the charm and her partner who was now several blocks away and running at full speed. “Seriously, Tikki?”

“Guess you have to go save the princess, Ladybug,” Alya said, causing Nino to laugh. Ladybug glared at them half-heartedly. They were having too much fun with this. She shook her head and swung off after her partner before he could get any further away, knowing her two friends were following her. There was no way Alya would pass up a chance to get a ‘Ladynoir’ kiss on video for the Ladyblog.

“It’s not like I don’t want to kiss him,” she muttered under her breath while she soared through the sky, thinking out loud now that no one could hear her. “I just don’t like when I have to kiss him because of an akuma, and I know he doesn’t either.”

She finally caught up with him as her earrings let out their first warning beep, and internally cursed herself for wasting her Lucky Charm. She should have known she would have to fix Chat before they could finish the fight. After swinging up onto a roof, she lassoed her yo-yo around him and dragged him up on the roof next to her. He frowned at her and started gesturing wildly again.

“Chat, stop! You’re not very good at charades right now and I don’t want to get hit in the face. Just give me a chance to explain because we don’t have a lot of time,” she said, her point punctuated by the second warning beep from her earrings. His eyes widened and he nodded once in understanding, motioning for her to continue. 

“Okay, you’ve seen the Little Mermaid, yes?”

He nodded and held up one finger in response.

“Okay, do you remember what happened?”

He winced and teeter-tottered his hand in a ‘so-so’ gesture. She pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Okay. Well quick recap, the spell that caused her to lose her voice had two ways to break it. One, you break the sea witch’s necklace, and Chloe doesn’t have one of those. The other way was a kiss,” she explained, holding up the chapstick Lucky Charm. His eyes widened and she swore she noticed a blush under his mask. “I know it’s because of the akuma, which I’m sorry about, but Tikki seems to think option two is our best bet. So…”

He smiled at her, but it wasn’t the Cheshire grin she was expecting. It was a soft smile, full of understanding and emotion, and was surprisingly familiar even though she couldn’t place quite where she’d seen it before. He stepped closer and leaned in, and her heart started beating faster…

“Now’s the moment…” a familiar voice carried over to them, followed by a second voice singing the backup vocals in an unnecessarily forced falsetto.

“La-la…”

“Hiding from an akuma…”

“La-la…”

“Bug you’d better do it soon, no time would be better…”

“La-la-la-la-la…”

“It don’t take a word, not a single word, go on and…”

“Kiss Noir!” the voices sang in unison, and Ladybug practically growled, ignoring the surprised amusement in Chat’s eyes.

“Alya! Nino!” she yelled, turning her head towards the source of the singing. She vaguely heard them snicker from wherever they were hiding, likely a fire escape with a clear view for Alya’s camera.

“We’re setting the mood!” Alya yelled back. “This is important!”

“To who?” Ladybug cried.

“To everyone!” Alya announced, as if it was obvious. Ladybug’s earrings beeped for the third time. “And you’re wasting time! Either kiss your cat or the Ladyblog is getting a much bigger scoop today!”

Ladybug let out a frustrated scream and grabbed Chat, dragging him down into a kiss. She felt him tense at the sudden motion and was about to pull away when he began to kiss her back.

She had only intended for the kiss to last one, two seconds tops. Just long enough to break the spell. That was the plan. Kiss him, break the spell, go detransform, feed Tikki, come back, beat the akuma. Her plan did not account for how she would feel when he kissed back. There weren’t fireworks, like she had heard about from movies and the internet. It was more a sense of completion, or was it satisfaction? She was reminded of that moment when you place the last piece of a puzzle in its slot, and it clicks into place so perfectly that you feel a strange happiness bubbling up within your soul.

To everyone’s surprise, Chat Noir pulled back first.

“Woah,” he whispered, his emerald eyes wide as they bore into her sky blue ones.

“Woah,” she agreed breathlessly. He chuckled softly, just as her earrings beeped again.

“Looks like you’re about to turn into a pumpkin, Bugaboo,” he said, stepping away so she could leave. She watched him for a second longer and stepped to the edge of the roof, tossing him the Lucky Charm to hang on to for her.

“We’ll, uh, we’ll talk about that later,” she promised, pitching her voice so he would hear her but the camera watching them wouldn’t. He grinned at her and gave her a two-fingered salute as she leapt off the building and swung away.

“Alya, please make me a copy of that and whatever photos you took,” Ladybug heard Chat beg as she touched down in a nearby alleyway, just in time for her transformation to wear off.

“Silly kitty,” Marinette murmured, trying and failing to fight the blush that bloomed across her cheeks. Tikki looked at her with a knowing smile and dove into the purse to grab the emergency cookies kept there specifically for situations like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like Ladybug wouldn't pass up the oppurrtunity to talk about Adrien, even if it was just to mention he managed to hit her with a frying pan. Also Nino providing slightly ridiculous backup vocals as Alya serenades the heroes is my new favorite concept.


	4. Friend Like Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette finds Chat and sees red. It's not what you think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did someone wish for a Marichat scene? If not, here's a freebie! 
> 
> Enjoy!

“Tikki, are you ready?” Marinette asked. She was pacing the alleyway, itching to get back to the fight. She didn’t like leaving Chat Noir alone with this akuma. She had a feeling that Disney-Binder would target him more than previous akumas had and it made her uncomfortable. The last thing she needed was her kitty turning into Meg from Hercules and getting crushed by a pillar when he inevitably knocks her out of the way.

“Not yet, Marinette, I’m sorry. I’m eating as fast as I can,” Tikki said, taking another huge bite of the cookie.

“It’s okay, Tikki. I don’t mean to rush you,” Marinette said. “I just hope we don’t have to transform again after this because I didn’t bring enough cookies for two transformations…”

Tikki’s response was cut short by a very loud yowl that made Marinette freeze. This was the second time that day she had heard that yowl…

“Tikki, was that Chat?” she asked, already knowing the answer. Tikki nodded and Marinette motioned for her to hide in her purse before running towards the battle.

She followed them to the Notre Dame, which thankfully wasn’t far from where she had destransformed, and snuck in through a side door. She tiptoed her way into the main chapel in time to hear Disney-Binder yelling something about Chat going free if he gave up his miraculous. She inched closer to get a better look, careful to stay out of sight of the akuma. She saw Chat tied up with red silk near the altar, his back to her as he faced the akuma, giving what she had no doubt was his angriest glare. The akuma just laughed.

“Oh, what does it matter? Your precious street rat Ladybug will come to your rescue soon enough, just like she always does, and then I’ll be able to get both of your miraculous jewels for Hawk Moth,” she said, laughing shrilly as she turned her back and walked away. Marinette took the opportunity to sneak over to Chat. He apparently hadn’t noticed her approach, however, and she couldn’t help herself when she came up behind him.

“Need some help, Princess?” she murmured in his human ear, knowing he could hear her smug smile in her voice despite the low volume. She fought back a snort as he jerked in surprise.

“Marinette?” he hissed, turning his head as far as he could to look at her. He had to settle for glaring at her out of the corner of his eye. “What are you doing here?”

“You seemed like you got yourself into a bit of trouble,” she said as innocently as she could. Chat huffed.

“Trouble? No way. You’re only in trouble if you get caught,” he said smugly. She looked him over with a smirk.

“Um, kitty?” she said, dropping her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “I think you got caught.”

“Alright, I’m in trouble,” he admitted, deflating visibly. 

“That’s why I’m here,” she said proudly, making sure the akuma hadn’t returned before stepping around so he could see her more clearly. She scanned her eyes over the fabric holding him hostage, looking for the easiest place to start untying the knots.

“Red looks good on you, kitty,” she said absentmindedly, stepping closer to touch the red fabric to test the strength of it. She thought she caught the faintest outline of a blush creep out from under his mask, but it could have just been the way the sunlight streaming in through the window reflected off of the material.

“Princess, you’re going to get hurt. You should get out of here before the akuma comes back. I’m sure Ladybug will be here soon,” he said, twitching his fingertips in a shooing manner. She bit back a smirk.

“Ladybug will take too long,” she said dismissively, smiling when she felt Tikki poke her hip through her bag. “I’m here now. I’ll help you. Besides, I might know a thing or two about fabric.”

“I never would have guessed,” he said sarcastically, watching her set to work untangling the silk. She worked quickly, fully aware that if the akuma came back and caught her they would all be in trouble, and soon Chat was free. A few stray pieces of material were still draped across his shoulders as he stood up. He bowed dramatically, the leftover fabric fluttering to the ground. “Thank you kindly, Purrincess. Now, not to be rude but you should seriously get out of here. Who knows what fairy tale this akuma would hit you with if she had the chance? I don’t want to see you become Snow White because Disney-Binder threw an apple at you.”

“I like to think I would be Mulan, thank you very much,” Marinette sassed, letting him guide her towards the door she came in through. She stopped and turned to look at him. “Chat, a bit of advice: maybe don’t use your cataclysm until it’s absolutely necessary. From what I could tell, this akuma likes to target you specifically. The last thing Ladybug needs is for you to be hit as a civilian, especially if you got turned into a frog or something.”

“That is a toad-ally valid point, Mari. I’ll have to Kermit it to memory,” he said, resting his hands on both her shoulders so she faced him fully. She rolled her eyes with a fondly exasperated smile, but was caught off guard when he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. She blushed and ducked her head so he wouldn’t see while she tried to regain her composure. “Get somewhere safe, Mewlan.”

She nodded and turned away, walking towards the door quickly. When she turned back she could see him running in the direction the akuma had disappeared in, and she darted into an alcove to let Tikki out.

“Having fun, Marinette?” Tikki teased her, laughing when Mari shook her head to clear it.

“Did you eat enough?” she asked, avoiding the kwami’s question. Tikki nodded in response.

“Yes, but we’re out of cookies. If you have to drop your transformation again you’ll have to get more, and with how long this akuma battle is, you know that most of Paris will shut down soon,” she warned. Marinette nodded.

“I know, I’ll try to be careful,” she promised. “Tikki, spots on!”

The magic of her transformation washed over her, and seconds later Ladybug was chasing off after her partner. They found the akuma on the roof, and she let out a delighted laugh when she saw the spotted hero join them.

“Ah, Ladybug! Since Chat Noir was my brilliant Jasmine today, that would make you Prince Abubu,” she cackled. Ladybug rolled her eyes as she realized which fairy tale she had freed Chat from.

“I think you mean Ababwa,” she sassed. Chat almost doubled over laughing at her tone.

“Whatever,” Disney-Binder huffed, waving her off. “It’s time to say goodbye.” 

They both leapt at her, and Ladybug was pleasantly surprised to see Chat was taking Marinette's advice on not using his cataclysm until they clearly needed it.

The battle was a stalemate, which caught Ladybug off-guard. This akuma was more adept at rewriting fairy tales than at fighting, but she had forgotten Disney-Binder was also able to manipulate reality. It meant that whenever they got too close to her, or whenever they hit her one too many times, she found a way to change the tides. Pulling weapons out of nowhere and trapping Chat in an hourglass, which caused him to drop his staff on the roof. Ladybug managed to pick it up and use it to break him out before he had to cataclysm it. When she created a blizzard over all of Paris Ladybug had had enough.

The snow was piling up quicker than normal, and Ladybug felt the chill more acutely than she normally would through the suit. She was not a fan of fighting in the winter, something Tikki said came from being a ladybug, and she felt exhaustion start to set in. They needed to end this fight soon, so she did what she thought would be the best idea.

“Lucky Charm!” she shouted, throwing her yo-yo up in the air. The object fell into her waiting hand, and she prayed for something a little more useful than the chapstick she had received earlier. She frowned when she saw what it was.

“A firework?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I probably had too much fun with the Marichat convo in this but I like how it turned out. Sorry not sorry for the cliffhanger, but I have a very clear plot point for the next chapter that I had to set up in this one, which may have made the ending a little rushed... (And if we could just pretend I know what the Notre Dame looks like that would be great, lol.)


	5. Are We In This Together or Not?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes get stuck in the snow, and Chat gets a break from being a Disney princess when Tikki sets the scene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This starts off as Ladynoir and ends as Marichat. It's also the start of the angst portion of this fic...
> 
> Enjoy!

“A firework?” she questioned, looking at the dragon-shaped, polka-dotted object in her right hand, and the lighter that had fallen into her left. It was strange, but Chat knew she could work with it. The only problem was how.

They still didn’t know what the akumatized object was, and Chat was beginning to worry it wasn’t on Disney-Binder at all. Hawk Moth had done that to them a couple of times in the past, most notably when they fought Dark Owl. That had been one of the worst, because in order to defeat him Ladybug had to basically find his lair and then figure out what object housed the butterfly. From what she had told him she also almost lost her Miraculous twice that fight, which had made him uneasy. Thankfully Hawk Moth usually wasn’t that creative, but when akuma fights became more difficult than usual he was always reminded of that one.

He watched Ladybug as she scanned the area, looking for the perfect place to launch the firework towards. It wasn’t until her earrings let out their first warning that he saw her blue eyes light up, but he couldn’t see through the heavily falling snow clearly enough to know what her plan was. She caught his eye for a second, just long enough to communicate to him to stay put before she ran towards the akuma. Every muscle in his body twitched to follow her, but he trusted her judgement and stayed where he was.

She stopped a few feet away from Disney-Binder, setting down the firework and shifting it into position. She started fiddling with it, seeming to get more panicked the longer it took for her to get the angle right. He vaguely heard her mutter something about not being good at geometry as Disney-Binder began to step closer. Her earrings beeped a second time, but it was drowned out by her cry of success as she lit the fuze on the firework and ducked away, covering her ears. Disney-Binder easily dodged the projectile as it went off, letting it crash into the unnaturally large pile of snow on the bell tower behind her.

Part of Chat wanted to scream when the firework sailed past the akuma because how could she miss? She was three feet in front of her! But the other part of him knew that his Lady would never intentionally hit an akuma with an attack like that if she didn’t really have to. The fact that it could seriously harm the civilian behind the magic was just too great a risk for Ladybug, and it was something he admired her for. He didn’t understand why she would have deliberately missed the akuma this time, but he wasn’t going to question her.

He wasn’t confused for very long.

A few seconds later the firework exploded, triggering a wave of snow to rush off the bell tower towards them. Ladybug had already turned and was running towards Chat, desperately looking for a ledge to catch her yo-yo on. Disney-Binder, for all of her knowledge of Disney movies, wasn’t fast enough to move out of the way, and the snow knocked her off her feet before burying her. Chat managed to grab onto Ladybug and went to vault them off the roof, but his baton slipped on a patch of ice and they fell of the side of the building. Miraculously, or maybe it was just thanks to Ladybug’s luck, there was a magically large pile of snow that cushioned their fall. Thanks to Chat’s luck, the snow that had forced them off the roof crashed down on top of them, burying them in the snowbank as Ladybug’s earrings let out another muffled beep.

“I hate snow,” he heard Ladybug grumble next to him, prompting him to start digging his way out. He managed to find a pocket of air that surrounded Ladybug, clearing away an opening so that he could climb into the pocket with her.

“You are one lucky bug, you know that?” he asked her, shaking snow out of his hair. She shot him an unamused look.

“Chaton, I am cold, I am about to detransform, and I am currently not dressed for snow. You might want to rethink your definition of lucky,” she said flatly. Chat just laughed and shook his head.

“Don’t worry, I won’t look. Just feed your kwami and then we can get back to the battle,” he said, turning away from her. His cat ears pricked at her sigh.

“That’s the other problem. I kind of ran out of cookies for Tikki the last time I detransformed. I really thought we’d be able to get her with that last Lucky Charm,” she said quietly, almost berating herself. Chat’s eyes widened.

“And everything in the area will be closed by now until the akuma is taken care of,” he said, turning back to face her. She nodded, biting her lip.

“Well, are you ready to meet your partner again?” she asked, trying to keep the mood light even though he could tell she was worried. They hadn’t discussed revealing their identities in months, and while he still wanted to know her identity, he wasn’t sure if she had changed her mind about it.

“Bugaboo, if you’re not ready, we can figure something out. I’m sure we can get you somewhere to get cookies once we’re out of this snowbank,” he said, digging through the snow again to find an escape. He cringed as he heard her earrings beep again.

“Chat, that’s the fourth warning. I have one minute, and we both know I don’t move fast enough in the snow to be able get where I need to go, even when I’m prepared for it. It was going to happen eventually,” she said, moving to help him dig despite how much she had begun to shiver.

“Then I’ll detransform too. At the same time,” he suggested. She shook her head.

“No, one of us should stay transformed in case we encounter the akuma again. You haven’t used your cataclysm yet, so you still have plenty of time. We’ll discuss identities later,” she said. He pursed his lips but nodded.

“Add that to the ever growing list of things we need to talk about today,” he said, a teasing note entering his voice as they finally broke through the snow. Chat used his baton to create a large enough opening to carry her out. They popped out of the snow like daisies, and he lifted her up and brought her to an alleyway a few streets away, setting her down just as pink light washed over her. Following his instincts, he turned away to preserve her identity for as long as possible.

“I’m sorry that didn’t work,” an unfamiliar voice said, and he heard Ladybug sigh.

“Don’t worry about it, Tikki. We tried. Although maybe next time you don’t take my teasing comments to heart?” his Lady said, her voice even despite the fact that he could hear her teeth chattering.

“You’re the one who had to talk about how long I was taking to finish eating,” the new voice, Tikki, said.

“You know I was kidding,” Ladybug said, but the only answer he heard was her kwami’s soft laugh. “Chat, just turn around. It’ll make this easier to just get it over with.”

“As you wish,” he said, turning to face her. His eyes widened when he saw Marinette shivering in front of him, a strange little red creature with large blue eyes cupped in her hands. “I thought I told you to go somewhere safe.”

That was not what he meant to say. He had planned a million and one things he would say when he finally met the girl behind the spotted mask, the civilian identity of the partner he loved with all of his heart, but apparently after realizing that he already knew the girl behind the mask, all of his plans were blown away like snowflakes in the wind. It wasn’t anything like what he had planned to say, and it was very obvious that it was the wrong thing to say by the way her eyes narrowed dangerously.

“How was I supposed to get somewhere safe, Chat? I was busy trying to help you fight the akuma,” Marinette said, her tone eerily calm, betraying just how angry she was. Her anger just fanned the frustration he had been feeling the entire day.

“Yeah, that did a lot of good, didn’t it?” he retorted, his irritation speaking before his brain could give permission to say those words. He wasn’t angry with her at all. He was angry with Hawk Moth and his ridiculous akuma. That anger just boiled over and directed itself at her for no reason other than she was there.

“Oh, I’m sorry. How many times have I saved you today? Or ever? I got you out of that hourglass you were stuck in on the roof so you didn’t have to use your cataclysm, and I got you out of that silk trap in the Notre Dame, and I got you away from Chloe when she was a sea witch! Would you rather I had not done any of those things?” she demanded, her voice rising in volume. Chat’s ears flattened against his head.

“Maybe I would if it means you would be somewhere safe!” he yelled back. 

“What is your problem?” she yelled, crossing her arms over her chest. He wasn’t sure when Tikki had left her palm, but he could see her poking her head out of Marinette’s pink purse, her blue eyes wide.

“I can’t lose you!” he cried, throwing his arms up in frustration. She glared at him.

“Chat Noir, the only way you are going to lose me is if you push me away, which is exactly what you’re doing right now!” she yelled. He couldn’t tell if her voice was shaking because she was upset or if it was because she was freezing. “You trust Ladybug. Why is Marinette any different?”

“Ladybug is a superhero, and Marinette isn’t,” he said, his voice dropping to a normal volume. He watched her bite her lower lip, and her eyes were watery.

“This is why I didn’t want you to know,” she whispered. He barely heard it over the sound of the still-raging snow storm, but he heard it. He heard the pain she was trying to hide from him, heard all of the self-doubt he thought she had gotten over when they first met. It was a pain he almost never saw on Ladybug, but had never seen on Marinette. It was a pain he never wanted to see on Marinette again, and it made all of the misplaced anger he was feeling drain out of him in an instant. Before he could form an apology, she shoved past him and stormed out of the alleyway.

He let her go, not sure if he would be welcome to go after her. If he deserved to follow her. None of what he had said to her was what he intended to say, but his brain had been so clouded by stress and frustration and anger and a sudden jolt of fear that he couldn’t think straight. So just like he deals with the adrenaline and emotions he feels during akuma attacks, he dealt with the emotions he was feeling by attacking them head-on, leaving destruction in his wake like the black cat he was.

Nino had said it best earlier: that was just his luck.

He barely noticed when Marinette returned a moment later and stood just outside of the alleyway. She had her arms crossed in a defensive manner, and she was glaring at him in anger and exasperation. It was a look he knew well, since he had seen Marinette direct it at Chloe and Lila on occasion, and had seen Ladybug direct it at him at least once and at akumas on a fairly regular basis. Somehow, seeing Marinette direct it at him was more terrifying than if she had been wearing the mask. The fact that she was shivering violently from the snow that swirled around her and stuck to the short, pink, sleeveless sundress he only just realized she was wearing only made him feel worse.

“Well? Aren’t you coming?” she huffed, bouncing slightly on the toes of her sandals in an attempt to keep warm. She really wasn’t kidding when she told him she wasn’t dressed for snow. She looked like she was dressed for a date...

“What?” he whispered, watching her but afraid to step closer. She let out a sharp breath as a violent chill coursed through her body.

“Well, considering you don’t think Marinette is capable of doing anything,” she bit out, her voice colder than the wind blowing around them, “I thought you would have wanted to escort me back to the bakery.”

“Oh,” was all his brain helpfully supplied, and he moved closer with a hand held out. She looked at his hand as if it was a snake about to bite her and took a step back.

“No. We’re walking. I don’t want you touching me,” she said, turning away and heading towards her home now that she knew he would follow. “It’s not far.”

“Princess, you’ll freeze if we walk,” he tried to reason with her. The glare she shot over her shoulder made him realize that had been a mistake.

“Don’t call me Princess, Chat Noir. You lost that privilege,” she said, her voice a low growl. He felt his ears droop, but didn’t argue. He settled for walking as close to her as he dared. His thoughts scanned over the day’s events like a broken record, stuck on repeat and forcing him to relive every moment.

Hitting Ladybug with a frying pan, followed by her kissing his cheek; the way Ladybug kissed him to give his voice back (which he almost wanted to regret had happened, because if it hadn’t they wouldn’t have had that argument, but he just couldn’t if it was only time she'd ever kiss him); Marinette running into an akuma trap as a civilian to help him, and the gentle kiss he'd pressed to her forehead and the way she tried to hide her blush; and then the moment he threw it all away. He needed to say something to make it up to her. His mind zeroed in on her comment about being Mulan, and he remembered a quote from that movie that just seemed to fit her perfectly.

“Hey, Marinette?” Chat asked softly, as if afraid she would yell at him for daring to speak to her. She hummed in response, but otherwise gave no indication she had heard him. He took it as a sign to continue. “I was thinking…I think that guy from Mulan was right. The flower that blooms in adversity is the most beautiful of them all.”

He hadn’t dared to look at her as he said it, choosing to be a coward and keep his eyes on the snowy path under their feet, so he didn’t notice she had stopped walking until he realized he didn’t hear her shivering as loudly. He finally turned to look at her, wincing at the mess of emotions on her face. He recognized pain and anger most clearly, but there was something unreadable as well, hiding under her cheeks that were tinged red from the cold.

“Why do you always do that?” she asked quietly. Her blue eyes were glistening as she tried to fight back tears.

“Do what?” he responded slowly, not sure what exactly she was talking about.

“That,” she replied after a moment, frowning at him. “Whenever I’m mad at you, you come up with something to say that is impossibly sincere and sweet and the complete opposite to whatever it was that upset me in the first place. Do you know how hard it is to stay mad at you when you do that?”

“I didn’t realize I did that…I’m sorry?” he said, tilting one head to the side as he looked at her. He wracked his brain trying to remember the times Chat had done that…he could think of at least one time Adrien had done that to Marinette, but she didn’t know who he was, did she? She seemed to hesitate, her expression morphing into one of confusion. She rubbed the back of her head with a wince, right where the frying pan had hit her. In that moment he really hoped she didn’t know who he was, even though he knew they would have to face that eventually.

“Well, you do,” she grumbled eventually, walking to catch up with him. “Can you just let me be angry right now? It’s not that long of a walk to the bakery. Is it so awful for me to be angry with you until we get there?”

“Are you mad at me because you aren’t mad at me?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. He was genuinely confused, and slightly amused, if he was being perfectly honest, but she huffed in irritation.

“Please don’t be a sassy project runway kitty right now,” she said, missing the bewildered look he gave her. “We’ll talk when we get to where we’re going.”

He caught a glimpse of Tikki peeking out of her purse, and she just offered him a shrug in response to the look he gave her. Apparently her kwami was just as confused as he was. Marinette just kept walking, leaving him no choice but to follow her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chat will get a chance to explain why he was so angry soon, don't worry. That is going to be a VERY long conversation because they're going to have a lot to talk about.


	6. Oh Look, I've Been Impaled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette is freezing and Chat makes a mistake (he's a bit of a fixer-upper).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this took a really long time to write. It's also a very long chapter, so I hope that makes up for it. I feel like I should warn you that the alternate title for this fic was "LadyNoir and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." Do with that what you will.
> 
> This starts off Marichat and ends Adrienette.
> 
> Enjoy.

The walk took a lot longer than it should have. They had to climb over ridiculously large piles of snow when they blocked the roads, and Marinette slipped more than a few times. There was one particularly large mound of snow that she started trying to climb while Tikki looked for another way around it. She found a path through an alleyway next to them at the same moment Marinette slipped on a lump of ice. Chat darted forward just in time to catch her as she fell. He stared at her with wide eyes, waiting for her to yell at him, but she just blinked up at him.

“Thanks,” she said, easing herself out of his arms carefully. “That was like one of those crazy trust exercises, wasn’t it?"

He was frozen in his spot as he watched her walk towards the alleyway Tikki pointed out. It wasn’t until he felt the little kwami tap his shoulder that he snapped out of his daze. She gave him a gentle, knowing smile, and he ducked his head to hide his blush before going after her.

They finally reached the park next to Marinette’s house and decided to cut through it to save time. Marinette had begun to walk more slowly from the cold, and Chat was worried that her feet were becoming frostbitten. She refused to let him carry her, however, so he would just have to make sure she was okay when they got inside the bakery. Tikki didn’t seem terribly worried about her, so Chat took that as a sign that she would be fine.

What did worry him was how tired Marinette had become during the walk. He realized he had never seen Marinette in the cold without a proper coat and jacket, or at least her Ladybug suit. Snowflakes were sticking to her hair, turning the blue-black strands white. She was silent, and Chat was desperate to hear her say something, just to know she was still doing okay.

“Hey, Marinette?” he asked. She hummed quietly, and fought off another shiver. He looked at her with a sheepish grin. “Do you want to build a snowman?”

“Chat, do I look like I want to build a snowman?” she grumbled, glaring at him. “I’m practically a walking snowman right now. All I want to do is get inside and warm up.”

“I just thought I’d ask, make sure you were still in there,” he said, trying to smile. He had known it was a stupid question, but she had answered him anyway. She shook her in an almost fond exasperation.

“Do you still have the Lucky Charm from earlier? The chapstick?” she asked suddenly. Chat nodded and took the item out of his pocket.

“Are you going to cast the cure to get rid of some of this snow?” he asked as he handed it to her. She frowned.

“I don’t think I can do that a civilian,” she said. “I’ve never tried. I just need it because my lip is about to split from the cold.”

“Oh,” Chat said, cursing his brain for not being able to come up with something more witty. A pun would have been perfect there, but he unfortunately had none to offer.

They were just in front of the statue of Ladybug and Chat Noir when they heard a laugh behind them. They turned and Marinette’s heart sunk when she saw Disney-Binder walking towards them. Chat bristled next to her.

“Oh look, the cat is escorting a frozen princess,” she sneered. “Where’s your bug? Is she bothered by the cold?”

“Marinette, run. I’ll distract her,” he hissed, moving to stand in front of her. She glared at the akuma and stood her ground, resting her hand on his left elbow gently. “Why aren’t you running?”

“I’m not going to leave you alone,” she said quietly. “If she does something to you, you need someone here to reverse the effects.”

“But if she hurts you—“

“We’ll deal with that if it happens. Don’t think about it,” she murmured, squeezing his elbow reassuringly before letting go again. She may be upset with him, but it didn’t stop her from reminding him she cared.

“Oh Chat Noir, fear will be your enemy,” Disney-Binder said. Marinette noticed the light catch her broach in a way that made it seem to glow, but then she moved and the illusion was gone.

“If you hurt her, I’ll cataclysm you,” he growled, turning angry eyes on the akuma. When her smile widened he reached back and wrapped his right hand around Marinette’s wrist to tug her further behind him.

“Chat Noir, no!” Tikki screamed, but by the time he heard her it was already too late.

Marinette had never experienced the kind of pain she felt when Chat touched her arm and his Cataclysm took effect. Ever since Dark Cupid, a part of her had secretly wondered what would have happened if Chat had used it on her. Based on the way his power effects everything else, she assumed it would be quick. An explosion of pain followed by nothing. She had been wrong.

When his hand touched her, a blinding pain tore through her arm and seared through every inch of her body, setting her nerves on fire. She vaguely registered a scream of pain and horror, but she couldn’t recognize the voice. It didn’t sound like Chat, so was it Tikki? Was it her? Her thoughts were chased away by a fresh wave of pain that knocked her to the ground. She was trembling, shaking, shivering, and this time it wasn’t from the cold. She was using all of the strength she could muster to keep from showing how much pain she was in. She didn’t want Chat to hear her scream. She felt as though her skin was melting and solidifying all at once, slowly, agonizingly morphing from flesh to stone that would soon turn to dust. How long had it been since he touched her? Seconds? Minutes? Hours? It started in her right wrist and spread out from there, chasing the lava that now coursed through her veins. She struggled to see past the bursts of color in front of her eyes, but in a brief second between waves of pain she managed to blink away her tears and look up into Chat’s eyes. They were wide with fear, and she could see tears streaming out of them. He was whispering something, but she couldn’t hear what it was past the blood rushing in her ears. She thought she felt his claws brush against her skin, but before she would focus on that sensation, pain crashed over her again and it was all she felt. She couldn’t breathe, partly because her chest had begun to constrict and tighten and partly because she worried that if she inhaled too deeply, she would scream on the exhale. Instead she was panting, gasping for air as she began to spasm and writhe in Chat’s arms. When had he begun to hold her? She didn’t know, but she latched onto him desperately.

“Well, well, well. Looks like you really are the monster Paris fears you to be,” Disney-Binder said, but Chat wasn’t listening anymore. His Lady, his Princess, Marinette was dying in his arms and it was all his fault.

“Mari, I’m so sorry, I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so sorry, this is all my fault, I should have gotten you out of here, I’m sorry, Marinette please,” he babbled, brushing his thumb across her cheek. The blue eyes he loved so much were glassy and unfocused, tears flowing freely down her cheeks that were paler than the snow around them. Tikki flitted over and hovered just above her Chosen, managing to remain hidden from the akuma. Chat could see she was crying. “Tikki! Tikki, please tell me you can fix her. Tell me, please, can you, I need, please.”

Tikki’s only response was to shake her head sadly. She touched Marinette’s cheek delicately, as if she was a piece of vintage lace that could unravel at any second. Chat started to sob, his tears mixing freely with hers as they dripped onto her skin.

Marinette felt the pain sink into her bones. She felt it merge with what was left of her existence, and thought that maybe it was her body reluctantly accepting what was happening to her. She swallowed painfully, blinking her eyes a few times to see Chat still hovering above her. Her body was still spasming, and her breathing shallow and strained, but somehow she managed to offer him a wobbly smile.

“Ch-chaton,” she whispered, twitching her hand towards him. She wanted to touch him, to comfort him, but she couldn’t move. He sobbed, diving back into his stream of apologies. She managed to shake her head, but the movement was lost as her whole body shook violently.

“It’s o-ok-kay, you, d-idn-t m-m-me-an i-i-it. Peo-people, th-they, you, you we-were, were sca-ared. Str-stressed. You made a, you m-made a mistake,” she forced out, her voice nothing more than a broken whisper. “It’s okay.”

“You’re, going to die,” he choked out, and she heard his ring beep. “You’re going to die, and it’s, it’s all my fault! Mari, I’m so sorry…”

She shook her head again, about to try to speak when the pain came back even stronger and she screamed. She felt Chat flinch away from her, heard him sob harder. She realized dimly that she couldn’t feel the wrist he grabbed anymore, nor that hand, nor most of that arm. She actually couldn’t feel much of anything anymore, except for the fire that seared her lungs and heart. Her vision faded in and out, and she relived every moment she had ever shared with Chat. Every joke, every fight, every heartfelt smile, every time their hands brushed together, every tender moment between the two of them, the kiss they shared earlier that day. She remembered every emotion she felt but never said out loud, and in that moment she wanted to tell him everything. She needed to tell him how much she cared for him, to tell him she loved him, but she had lost control of her voice. There was a weight settling on her chest, blocking her airways, rendering her tongue limp and heavy and useless. She thought her lips might be moving, might be trying to communicate with him of it’s own accord. Her brain was too foggy by that point to know for sure.

The sound of metal swinging through the air cut into the haze. She had a moment of perfect clarity, and it was as though time slowed down for her. She saw Tikki crying and heard Chat say the words to drop his transformation, but she was the only one to notice the akuma holding a sword above her head that had materialized out of thin air. Marinette watched with horror as she swung the sword down towards Chat, green light reflecting off of its surface. With one final, miraculous burst of energy, Marinette managed to force herself up out of her partner’s arms. She threw herself in front of him, becoming his shield in the way he had so often been hers. Her arm came up in front of her as the rest of her body finally turned to stone.

Tikki gasped as she realized what Marinette had done. The akuma’s sword connected with her hand at same time the destructive magic solidified, and the girl should have crumbled under it. This wasn’t the first time Tikki had seen one of her Bugs be the victim of a Cat’s Cataclysm, either accidentally or intentionally. Once the magic took full effect, the gentlest touch would cause them to turn to dust, leaving only the Miraculous behind to prove she had been there at all. For some reason, that wasn’t what happened to Marinette. The Cataclysm seemed to spread to the sword as it touched her, and the blade exploded instantly with enough force to send the akuma flying over the rooftops and out of sight. Disney-Binder was out of the park before Chat had even finished the transformation back into Adrien.

Adrien opened his eyes, surprised to find that Marinette was no longer in his arms. He looked around wildly, hoping against all hope that she might still be alive, and his eyes settled on her statuesque form as she crouched above him protectively. He scrambled around to see her face, his heart stopping when he truly looked at her. She had literally turned to stone, her once blue eyes now lifeless and grey. She had a determined expression on her face, the one she had worn when she told Hawk Moth they would protect Paris at all costs, the one he had first fallen in love with. It seemed like some kind of sick poetic justice that she would have that expression on her face as she died.

“Oh, kid,” Plagg whispered from where he was holding a crying Tikki. He kept his eyes on Adrien, searching for a way to protect his kitten even as he knew he couldn’t. Adrien looked into his kwami’s green eyes and saw an uncharacteristic depth of emotion hidden in them, and the blond broke down once again. He wailed openly, not caring if anyone saw or heard him. It didn’t matter anymore; Marinette was gone, Ladybug was gone, and there was nothing he could do to bring her back. He lifted a trembling hand and let it hover next to her cheek, but he didn’t dare touch her. He had killed her once already. He wouldn’t be able to handle it if he touched her and she crumbled to dust, if she slipped through his fingers…

He loved her. He loved her, and he had destroyed her.

He dropped to his knees in front of her, and his thoughts drifted to her family, to Alya and Nino, to their classmates. How would he explain what happened to her? Of course, he would tell the truth, paint Chat Noir as the villain he was, but the truth would surely kill them as much as it killed him. Her parents would be distraught, if they didn’t already know what happened. They were still in the park outside of the bakery, after all. They may have looked out the window when the akuma appeared and seen the whole thing. At least Alya wasn’t around…he couldn’t imagine what would happen if she had seen what he’d done.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice when Tikki stopped crying. He didn’t hear Plagg’s surprised gasp, nor his quietly murmured “What?” He didn’t even notice when the figure in front of him relaxed and moved closer. So he also didn’t see the hand that slowly reached out to comfort him.

“Oh, kitty,” Marinette murmured gently, carding her hand through his hair. He flinched back, looking up at her with wide, fearful, tear-filled eyes. She pulled her hand away from him, watching him warily, as if she wasn’t sure if he would run away from her. He blinked at her a few times, not believing his eyes. She furrowed her brows into a concerned pout. “Adrien?”

“Mari,” he breathed. It was the closest thing to a warning he gave her before he pounced, causing her to squeak in surprise. He gathered her up in his arms, but the force of his momentum caused them to fall over and land with him on top of her. She squealed when her back hit the snow, so he quickly pulled her up and set her on his lap as he hugged her tightly. She wrapped one arm around his shoulders and tangled her other hand in his hair while he buried his face in her neck. She felt his tears burn against her freezing skin.

“Hey, kitty, Adrien, I’m okay. I’m alive. I’m right here, it’s okay,” she whispered. She felt him sob into her shoulder, so she started humming the melody to the first song she thought of to soothe him, which happened to be You’ll Be In My Heart. By the time she had gotten through the whole song, he had started taking deep, shuddering breaths.

“I almost lost both of you,” Adrien said, his voice hoarse. “Please don’t ever do that again.”

“I won’t, Chaton,” she promised. He nodded but otherwise didn’t move from where he was nuzzled into her. Tikki and Plagg came to hover in her line of sight. She offered them a tired smile.

“You’re taking all of this really well, Marinette,” Tikki observed, her voice kind. Marinette huffed out a short laugh, beginning to feel more than a little delirious after the day she’d had.

“I’m really cold,” Marinette replied, as if that explained everything. “The one day I don’t wear my jacket and an akuma freezes Paris. I thought I was supposed to be lucky?"

Adrien laughed and adjusted his hold on her so he could stand up without dropping her. She held out her hand for Tikki and Plagg to land on, and held them close to her chest. He suspected Plagg would never own up to it later, but Adrien was sure he heard the little cat-god start purring. He carried her out of the park and over to the side door of the bakery at Marinette’s direction. Tikki flew into the lock without being asked and magically opened the door for them. Marinette tried to ease herself out his grip, but Adrien held onto her this time and carried her up the stairs and into the surprisingly empty apartment.

“Marinette? Where are your parents?” Adrien asked as he finally set her down on the couch.

“Oh, Papa surprised Maman with cruise tickets for her birthday a few months ago, and the trip was this weekend. They left early this morning and they won’t be back for a week,” Marinette explained. She carefully eased off her frozen sandals and left them next to the couch. “I really hope the cure fixes those shoes. I liked those.”

Adrien handed her a glass of water she suspected he had grabbed out of a need to do something for her but not being familiar enough with her house to know what to do. She smiled and took a sip of it before setting it down on the coffee table.

“Hey, Mari, do you have any camembert? I want to feed Plagg so I can go back out and beat the akuma,” he asked.

“No,” she said shortly, letting her irritation show. “I mean, I have camembert and you can feed Plagg, but we’re not going back out there yet.”

“We’re not. I will,” he said. “You’ll stay here and warm up and I’ll bring the object when I find it.”

“No! Adrien, you can’t go out there!” she said, raising her voice. She wasn’t quite yelling, but she would be soon.

“Disney-Binder is dangerous, Marinette," he protested, keeping his voice low. Marinette glared at him.

“I know she’s dangerous. God, Adrien, she almost killed you just now. She almost killed both of us. She is dangerous, but we can’t go out there like this,” she argued. “I’m still a Bug-cicle, and I know you’re not in a good place emotionally. We need to deal with what happened today before we can even think about fighting again.”

“Marinette—“

“No. Adrien, we are going to warm up, and we are going to talk, and only after that has happened will we go and kick this akuma’s ass. Disney-Binder will still be there in an hour or two. Paris will still be there in an hour or two. But if we go out there right now,” she said, pausing as her voice cracked, “I’m afraid that we might not be.”

“Okay,” he said, resting a hand on her shoulder gently. “We’ll talk first.”

“No, shower first. We need to get out of these clothes and into something dry and warm,” she said. “Wait here.”

She darted up to her room as quickly as she could on her cold feet, leaving Tikki to watch her with a smile. Plagg and Adrien wore matching expressions of awe and confusion. Marinette was only gone for a minute when she came back down with a bundle of fabric that she thrust into Adrien’s hands.

“What is this?” he asked her. Marinette smiled.

“Some designs I was working on this summer. I finished them earlier this week using Chat’s, well, your measurements. They should fit, unless you’ve grown since I measured you,” she said. Adrien smiled and ran his hands over the material. “It’s nothing special, but it’s something.”

“Thank you,” he said, putting all of the emotion he was feeling into those two words. He couldn’t believe she had designed a whole outfit specifically for him, or at least with him in mind. Her smile grew even brighter.

“You’re welcome,” she said. She was about to turn and go back upstairs when Adrien pulled her in for a tight hug. She squeaked in surprise.

“I don’t know how you survived what happened,” he said, his voice thick, “but I’m really, really glad you did.”

“I think we have Tikki to thank for that,” she said as she hugged him back. “But I’m glad I did too.”

“Actually, Marinette, it wasn’t me,” Tikki spoke up. “I don’t have that power. The Cure comes from my magic, but it needs a Ladybug to have any real effect. Plagg and I found out centuries ago that I can’t save my Chosen if they’ve been Cataclysmed.”

“Wait, it’s happened before?” Marinette asked, turning to the kwamis who were sitting on the counter.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Tikki said. “It’s happened a few times. Usually it’s an accident, but there have been times when a Ladybug and a Black Cat have been enemies and the attack was intentional.”

Marinette’s eyes widened in shock. She felt Adrien stiffen next to her, and she reached over threaded her fingers through his. If Tikki didn’t help her...

“You’re the first Bug that’s survived,” Plagg continued. “Whatever you did, it was all you.”

Adrien turned to look at her, and even though she wasn’t looking at him, she could feel the unspoken question in his eyes. She thought back over everything she remembered from the time she and Adrien fought in the alleyway to when they walked back into the apartment. It was like a lightbulb had clicked on in her mind when she realized what happened, and she smiled.

“If there’s one thing I learned from watching Disney movies,” she said as she turned to Adrien, “it’s that an act of true love can fix anything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What Marinette's “I’m really cold” actually means (aka it didn't fit in the fic but I wrote it and thought you would enjoy it): 
> 
> “I can’t feel my toes. At this point I’m not quite sure I have toes. But Chat was crying, and a girl has to have priorities, you know, Tikki? So I decided that soothing him was my priority because I’m his friend and his partner, and he’s really warm. And maybe later I’ll freak out about Adrien and Chat being the same person, but they’re not that different when you think about it. I mean, Adrien hit me in the head with a frying pan and the only other person I know that would do that is Chat, so of course they’d turn out to be the same person. It’s just logical.”


	7. He Takes Me in His Arms...and then I Wake Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Marinette talk, Alya, Nino, and Gabriel each make a brief appearance, and Plagg is far too pleased with himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They finally get to talk! Not about everything just yet, but they cover a lot of it as best as they can. There are still some Frozen references in the beginning, and there aren't a ton of references to the movie in this one, but considering it's loosely based on a movie in which the titular character isn't even in the movie for more than 20 minutes...I'm happy with this. Also shout-out to Sinnamon_Queen for requesting the pun used.
> 
> A placket is the part of a shirt that the buttons are stitched onto on a button-down shirt. I know because I had to look it up to use in this chapter.
> 
> This is pure Adrienette. I tried to keep it fluffy, but they had to talk about stuff. It's also pretty long compared to some of my other chapters.
> 
> Enjoy!

“An act of true love?” Adrien asked, tilting his head in confusion.

“Well, yeah,” Marinette said with a shrug. “I was going to die, or at least I thought I was. But I saw she was going to kill you, and then it didn’t matter if I died if I could make sure you lived.”

“Because I needed to defeat the akuma,” he said. She frowned at the way he nodded as if that was truly the most logical answer.

“No? Minou, it had nothing to do with the akuma! I wanted you to live. And maybe as a hero it was selfish to only care whether you lived because you’re my best friend and I love you, but I didn’t care about Paris. I didn’t care who was under the mask in that moment because you were Chat and even though we argue and bicker and tease each other you’re kind of the most important person in my life, and if I had to die right then, the name your parents gave you was the least important thing I could know about you. 

“I’m not going to lie, though, it’s kind of nice knowing my partner is also the guy I’ve had a crush on since he gave me his umbrella in the rain because I have feelings for both of them and they’re the same person which actually makes a lot of sense, and I think I figured it out when you hit me with the frying pan but I was also confused because I had a really bad headache and every time I tried to think about it too much my headache got worse. But of all the people I’ve ever met, Chat is the only person who I ever thought might hit me that hard unintentionally, so when Adrien did it I expected it to be Chat. Then Chat did the thing Adrien does that makes it really hard to stay angry with him because he says or does something super sweet because he thinks it’s something that should be said and it’s almost always something that would turn me into a snowman in summer if I wasn’t trying to be angry right then, and my brain insisted on putting you two together again and then my headache came back,” she rambled, only pausing when a shiver worked its way from the tips of her toes all the way up to the top of her head. “And now we’re here and I’m still frozen and we both probably need to shower. I’m going to go and do that…Adrien, you can use the bathroom down here. It’s down the hall on the right, you can’t miss it, and then we can talk about this in like twenty minutes...okay bye.”

She rushed up the stairs, leaving behind two laughing kwamis and a stunned, blushing model. Adrien shook his head to clear it and went to shower, bringing the clothes Marinette had made with him. The shirt was made of a soft cotton that looked like it had been hand-dyed into a bright sky blue. It was a button-down shirt with a high collar, small gold buttons, and elbow-length sleeves. The trim of the sleeves, the collar, and the placket were all a bright, clean white, which provided a nice contrast to the blue but also highlighted the spots of white in the rest of the shirt. The pants were simple black jeans, and at first glance didn’t look like they were anything special. Then he noticed the subtle green thread woven through the stitching in the hem of each leg and the waistband, and looked closer. Hidden along the inside layer of those edges were little embroidered paw prints in the same green thread. He smiled at the very obvious nods to his superhero counterpart, and the attention that she had paid to these little details. He changed into them quickly, admiring the way they fit.

He grinned at the mirror when he took in his appearance. The designs were great, but they were also comfortable in a way many of the clothes in his closet could never be. He ran a hand through his damp hair, styling it haphazardly before walking back into the living room.

The first thing he noticed was that the room was empty. Marinette hadn’t come back downstairs yet, but the kwamis were nowhere to be seen. He climbed up the stairs to the trapdoor leading to Marinette’s room and knocked. When there was no response, he waited a few seconds and eased the door open, quickly realizing she was nowhere to be seen. He heard the sounds of a hairdryer coming from behind a closed door and took that as a sign that she was in there. He walked into the room, hoping he wasn’t intruding.

“Plagg? Are you up here?” he asked the room, looking around.

“Yeah, I’m here,” he said, his voice coming from inside a pile of fabric on Marinette’s desk. Adrien walked over to it, skimming his fingers across the surface of the desk. He came across the sewing machine that was still out and threaded, a pink and blue stretch of fabric abandoned under the needle.

“She must have been working on this when the akuma attacked,” he mused. He reached out and touched the fabric, feeling the softness underneath his fingers. Suddenly he heard the hairdryer turn off and he tried to jerk his hand away, worried Marinette would come in and be upset with him for walking into her space without permission.

He cursed under his breath when he felt the needle prick his fingertip, and the room spun for a minute before everything went black.

Marinette’s head snapped towards the closed door when she heard a rather loud crash in her room, followed by the sound of a cat screeching. She abandoned the ribbons she was about to use to tie her hair into pigtails and rushed out of the bathroom, her heart racing. Had Disney-Binder found them? Was she in her room right now? Was Hawk Moth in her room? Had she not been careful enough to protect Adrien’s identity when he detransformed in the park? Had he figured out her identity based on Chat’s reaction to her near-death experience? They weren’t ready for this fight, they still needed to talk about everything…she froze when she saw what, or rather who, had fallen.

Adrien was dramatically sprawled face-down on the ground, his head cushioned by one arm and his other arm and his legs bent at an irritatingly photogenic angle. She could see a tiny drop of blood beading on his fingertip, and his hair was almost glowing where the light hit it. Plagg was hovering above him, laughing so hard Marinette was surprised he hadn’t fallen out of the air, and Tikki was trying to scold him but struggling to keep a straight face. She sighed deeply.

“Why is this my life?” she asked no one in particular, pinching the bridge of her nose. Tikki looked over at her sheepishly.

“I think when the akuma’s sword broke earlier, a bit of her magic spread to the surrounding area, or at least to the two of you. When Adrien touched the needle of your sewing machine, it must have been activated,” the red kwami explained.

“And thus Adrien became Sleeping Beauty,” Marinette finished. Plagg snickered.

“I think you mean Sleeping Mewty,” he said, looking far too proud of himself. 

“No,” Marinette said flatly.

“Honestly, Marinette? I think you and Adrien are like a real life Sleeping Beauty,” Tikki said, a secret smile on her face. “A blond that spent a huge part of his life away from people, who falls in love with one of the first people he interacts with even though he doesn’t know her name. An attractive, dark-haired hero who is supposed to be in love with the blond’s secret identity, kept secret for safety purposes, who falls for him without realizing who she is in love with. Then their identities are revealed and they can be together and everyone is happy.”

“Except we’re not actually together, and we don’t have an arranged marriage,” Marinette said. Tikki shrugged.

“Maybe not, but you have to admit, the similarities are astounding,” was the kwami's reply.

Marinette was about to respond with a comment about her father and Mr. Agreste reenacting the arguments held between the two kings in the movie when her phone rang. She jumped before answering it, wincing when she saw the caller ID.

“Girl, where have you been?” Alya’s voice screamed through the phone as soon as the call connected. Marinette pulled the phone away from her ear to avoid going deaf.

“Hi, Alya,” she said, her tone only slightly sarcastic. “I was in the shower.”

“All day?” her best friend responded, and she could hear her eyebrow raise skeptically.

“No, obviously not all day. But my phone died and I kind of got frozen…” she said vaguely.

“What do you mean you got frozen?” Alya demanded. Marinette could hear Nino’s questioning noise in the background.

“I was near the Notre Dame when it started snowing and a ton of snow kind of fell off a rooftop and buried me…” she said, proud of herself for the technically true statement. Alya gasped.

“Are you okay? Did you get home okay?” she asked.

“Well, considering my phone was dead and now we’re talking I’d say I got home okay,” Marinette sassed. “I’m doing a lot better. The shower helped.”

“Don’t you sass me. I’m glad you’re okay, because we have another problem. Have you heard from Adrien? Nino was supposed to meet him near the Eiffel Tower before the akuma attacked, but no one has heard from him since Ladybug rescued him and we’re worried he’s missing again,” Alya said. “Did you hear he hit Ladybug with a frying pan?”

“I did hear that,” she said without thinking, then realized Alya may not have posted that clip yet. “Um, Adrien told me. He’s not missing. He’s actually at the bakery right now. He was the one that found me in the snow and helped me get home. We were both cold and decided to change and warm up.”

“Wait, he’s there? Can you give him the phone? Nino is kind of panicking. He’s worried about his bro,” Alya said with a teasing tone that Mari knew was directed at her boyfriend. Marinette winced as she glanced down at Adrien, knowing that no, she really can’t give him the phone right now.

“Adrien’s, um, not really available right now…” she said, her voice tilting up into almost a question at the end.

“What do you mean he’s not available? What are you two doing?” her best friend asked suggestively.

“Alya! We aren’t doing anything!” Marinette cried, feeling her face heat with a mortified blush that made Plagg almost start laughing again. She was actually sure he would have if Tikki hadn’t tackled him out of the air and shoved him into a pillow to keep him quiet. “I think he pricked his finger on the needle of my sewing machine, and now he’s passed out on my bedroom floor…”

“Oh my God!” Alya exclaimed. Mari heard her start laughing, and then a clatter as the phone fell to the floor.

“Babe? What happened?” Nino’s voice came through the phone, sounding distant and almost completely covered by the sound of Alya’s cackles. The next time Nino spoke it was much clearer, and Marinette knew he had picked the phone up. “What did you say to her? I think she’s dying. She looks like she’s laughing but there’s no sound coming out anymore and I’m not really sure she’s breathing. I think she’s crying. What happened?”

“Adrien is unconscious on my floor because he poked his finger on the needle of my sewing machine,” she summarized. There was a moment before Nino started laughing just as hard as his girlfriend was.

“Oh, man,” he said as he gasped for air. “Poor guy. He can’t catch a break today, can he?”

“He really can’t,” she agreed dryly, knowing just how rough the day had been. “I’ll send a picture to the group chat so you guys have proof. Keep Alya alive, will you?”

“Sounds good,” Nino said, before bursting out laughing again. Marinette rolled her eyes and hung up the phone.

“I’m amazed you two still have secret identities,” Plagg said, cackling.

“Well we do, so there,” Marinette said, rolling her eyes as she took a photo of Adrien and sent it to their group chat.

She captioned it, “Here’s your precious princess.”

Marinette was sitting next to Adrien a few minutes later, trying to figure out the easiest way to move him to her chaise when Alya finally responded.

Alya: OMG he’s even DRESSED like Sleeping Beauty. Girl. You know how you have to fix this, right?

Marinette blushed as she typed out a response.

Mari: Yes, I know how to fix this. I’ve seen the movie, thank you very much.

Alya: BOTH OF MY SHIPS ARE SAILING ON THE SAME DAY BLESS THIS AKUMA

Alya: Do you need Nino and I to set the mood? We’re quite good at it.

Marinette rolled her eyes and put the phone away, leaving her best friend on read. At least Alya definitely didn’t know what happened in the park. She frowned at the sleeping blond on her floor before looking over at Tikki and Plagg.

“Think I’m strong enough to lift him like this? Or should I just roll him over?” she asked the kwamis. Plagg looked confused. Tikki smiled.

“I think you can just roll him over. I don’t think he’ll mind,” Tikki said. She nodded and eased him onto his back, brushing some of his hair off his unreasonably cute forehead.

“He even model poses while unconscious,” she grumbled. Plagg started laughing again. “Tikki?”

“On it,” her kwami said, grabbing Plagg and dragging him through the trapdoor into the living room.

Marinette was surprised to find she was slightly nervous. It wasn’t like it was the first time they had kissed, and it was the third time she had kissed him because of an akuma. The first time was against Dark Cupid, because he was under a spell and about to Cataclysm her, and it would be the second time that day. At this point she was sure it would work, but she couldn’t help feeling that there was something different now that it was Adrien. Which was stupid, right? It’s just a kiss. She just had to do it. So she did.

The kiss was gentler this time compared to the last two times she had done this. There was no danger, no identities at risk, and no one watching. She let it be gentle, and she let it linger as long as she dared, straightening back up when she felt the air change. She opened her eyes seconds before he did, and she offered him what she hoped was a confident smile.

“Morning, Sleeping Beauty,” she said, proud that she had pulled off that line without stuttering. He frowned and sat up.

“What are you talking about?” he asked. Her response was to hold out her phone so he could see the group chat. She caught a blush bloom across his cheeks before he offered her a very Chat-like grin. “I think you meant Sleeping Mewty.”

“Nope. Plagg used that one earlier. I meant what I said,” she said. “Adrien, we really need to talk.”

“Yeah, I know we do. Do you want to start?” he asked. She sighed.

“In a minute,” she said. “First, I have something for you.”

“What?” he asked, watching in bewilderment as she stood up and darted over to her closet and pulled out a large gift bag. She sat down on the chaise and motioned for him to join her. He sat next to her and she pushed the present into his hands.

“It was supposed to be for our anniversary in a couple of days, but I feel like it’s more appropriate now,” she said. He tilted his head like the cat he is before ripping out the tissue paper and pulling out the two sweaters that were inside.

They were matching black zip-up hoodies that Marinette had spent weeks making. Stitched over the heart of each one was a yin-yang symbol like the one she had seen in the center of Master Fu’s jewelry box. In the yin side, which was outlined in red and fully embroidered with a shimmering black thread, she had stitched a little ladybug. In the yang side, which she had outlined in the same green she used on the paw prints on his pants and embroidered with a bright white thread, she had stitched a little green paw print. The hoods of each were her favorite part of the design. The outsides were still black, but the insides were unique. The inside of the hood of the smaller sweater was lined with a beautiful, soft, bright red fabric that rivaled her Ladybug suit, and had black spots embroidered at regular intervals. The hood of the larger sweater was lined with the same fabric, but this one was a bright green the same shade as Chat’s eyes, embroidered with black paw prints of varying sizes. The outside of his sweater had black cat ears that sat right where Chat’s ears actually fit on his head. The backs of each hoodie were slightly different as well. The back of the Ladybug sweater had “His Lady” embroidered in green thread, while the back of the Chat sweater had “Her Chaton” in red thread. The “i” in “His” was dotted with a paw print, and the “o” in “Chaton” was filled in with her Ladybug signature. None of these details were his favorite part, however.

“Is that my handwriting?” Adrien asked, running his fingers over the green letters on the Ladybug hoodie in awe. Marinette smiled.

“Technically it’s Chat’s. I had to trick you into writing it down for me when you visited earlier this summer so I could use it as a stencil,” she admitted. “The one on yours is my handwriting.”

“These are amazing,” he said, pulling his on and zipping it up. That was when he noticed the pull tab of the zipper. It was a silver paw print. He checked the other sweater and saw that it was a little silver ladybug. “Where did you get this?”

“Remember that older gentleman who got akumatized into Jewel-Arr, the pirate akuma who was trying to steal everyone’s jewelry because his shop wasn’t getting any business due to a larger chain store moving in next door?” she asked. He nodded. “Well, I kind of called in a favor with him. I went as Ladybug and asked if he could help out my friend, aka me, with some custom jewelry pieces and buttons and zippers for my designs. He was more than willing and gives me a really good price so I can afford the pieces. I also help him out with his granddaughter on occasion. She’s four and every time I go in I sit with her for a while and show her my sketchbook. Sometimes I’ll do a design that she requested and she can see how I put all of the details into it. It’s a fun way to overcome an art block.”

“That’s really sweet,” he said with a fond smile. She smiled and grabbed the Ladybug sweater, shrugging it on for warmth. She was only wearing a red tank top and black yoga pants, so she was still cold even after her shower. 

They just looked at each other for a minute before Marinette sighed and looked towards the trapdoor. He could tell she wanted to talk. An awkward tension settled around them and he fidgeted with the zipper on his sweater.

“So,” he started, not sure where the best place to begin would be.

“So…” she echoed, and he could tell she felt the same way. She sighed. “I think the biggest thing we need to talk about is the argument we had in the alleyway…”

“Is that what you think the most upsetting thing about today was?” he asked, a little surprised. The argument was horrible, but it wasn’t the first thing he would have thought to bring up.

“Adrien, in all honesty, I don’t know how to talk about the Cataclysm. It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t mean to activate your power, and I’m positive you only did because Disney-Binder did something to you,” she said, reaching over an cupping his cheek with her hand impulsively. She froze for a second, but when he didn’t pull away, she continued. “It was an accident, Minou, and I’m okay now. I’m still here. I know that doesn’t change what happened, and we’ll probably have nightmares about it for the next few months at least, but when we have them we can work through them together.”

“What if it happens again, Mari?” he asked, leaning into her hand as he tried to keep his composure. “What if next time you’re not okay?”

She understood where he was coming from. This wasn’t the first time he had tried to cataclysm her, and it would be stupid to think it couldn’t happen again. She pursed her lips and thought about what she could say, if there even was anything.

“I guess we just have to have enough faith in each other to trust that it won’t happen again,” she eventually said. “I don’t think there are any magic words I can say to keep you from worrying about it, and if there are I don’t know them. What I do know is I trust you, and we’re a team, and we can get through anything as long as we can focus on that.”

“Why don’t you seem bothered by this?” he asked her, watching her eyes intently. She fidgeted slightly under his stare.

“I am,” she admitted. “I was terrified, and I was in a lot of pain when it was happening. I’m worried it could happen again the next time an akuma tried to control you. But I know you would never do that to me willingly because I know you. If I were to truly worry about you doing it again, I would have to ignore everything I know about you as both Adrien and Chat and that wouldn’t be fair to you.”

His eyes began to water, and he tried to look away from her as his tears flowed down his face but she didn’t let him. She held him in place with a firm but gentle touch, brushing her thumb across his cheekbone in a soothing motion.

“We’ll get through it,” she whispered. “I promise.”

“I'm sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you earlier,” he said, his voice wobbly with emotion.

“Why did you?” she asked, keeping her voice soft. He could see in her blue eyes that she was still hurt by it.

“I was scared,” he admitted, dropping his gaze to the sleeve of his hoodie which caused her to drop her hand from his cheek. “I guess I always just thought, God forbid, if something terrible ever happened to one of you…I just I assumed I would still have the other, you know? Not to say that I would ever replace the one that I lost, but…Ladybug and Marinette are two of the most important people in Adrien’s life, and the two most important people in Chat’s life. I never wanted to consider that Marinette and Ladybug could be the same person because that would mean that they would both be gone if anything ever happened to Marinette as a civilian, or to Ladybug during a battle. I can’t lose both of you.”

“And you always saw Marinette as the girl who sat behind you in class,” she guessed.

“And the girl who beat me in video games, and gave me her lucky charm, and saved me from paparazzi,” he said with a smile. “And the girl who was reckless enough to go on a date with an akuma to keep him away from Chloe. Marinette is amazing, and of course you’d be Ladybug, because who else could she be? But I was mad at the akuma for ruining the day I was supposed to spend with my friends before school starts on Monday, and I was mad at Hawk Moth for sending the akuma, and I guess I didn’t really know how to deal with all of the emotions I was feeling so anger came out first.”

“Are you okay with this though? You seemed really upset,” she trailed off. He tried to catch her attention but this time she was the one that couldn’t meet his eye. He thought he noticed a blush but assumed it was a trick of the light.

“Of course I’m okay with it, Marinette. I regretted what I said as soon as I said it,” he said sincerely. “The one thing I did mean was my comment about the most beautiful flowers blooming in adversity.”

“See now I can appreciate that line because I’m not distracted by being mad,” she muttered, fighting a smile and failing. Adrien grinned.

“So you do appreciate my flirting,” he teased, nudging her shoulder. She groaned.

“Adrien! That is not what you’re supposed to be getting out of this conversation,” she scolded, but they both knew she didn’t mean it. She was smiling too much to be serious.

“I know but it was cute,” he said, nudging her again. This time she nudged him back. “So, are we okay?”

“Yeah, kitty,” she said, smiling fondly. “We’re okay. We’re basically a Disney movie, minus the arranged marriage thing, but we’re okay.”

He grinned and tackled her into a hug. She shrieked as they fell off the chaise, landing in a tangled, giggling mess on the floor. Their eyes met and he got lost in a sea of blue, and her in a field of green. Neither of them noticed when they started leaning in towards each other.

At least, they didn’t until Adrien’s phone rang and startled them, causing them to jump and slam their heads together.

“Ow,” Marinette whimpered, rubbing her forehead. Adrien winced.

“Sorry,” he apologized, pulling out his phone. He swore under his breath. “It’s Natalie. They must be looking for me…”

“Well, I told Alya you pulled me out of a snow bank near the Notre Dame and brought me here to warm up, so if you want to use that it’s not a lie,” Marinette said, standing up. “I’ll go check on the kwamis while you talk to her.”

“Okay,” he said, and she left the room. As soon as the trapdoor shut he answered the phone. “Hi, Natalie.”

“Adrien! Where have you been?” his father’s voice crackled through the speakers, and Adrien almost dropped the phone in shock.

“Father? I’m, um, I’m with Marinette,” he said, getting himself under control.

“Marinette?” Gabriel asked.

“Yeah! She’s in my class, she’s actually class president. Her parents own the bakery near school? She won that bowler hat contest you held at the school,” Adrien explained.

“Yes, yes, I remember her. How did this happen?” his father asked.

“Well, I was looking for somewhere I knew would be safe to get away from the akuma attack, and when it started snowing I wasn’t too far from Marinette’s house so I thought I would go there. Then I found her buried in a pile of snow and mostly frozen so I helped her get inside to warm up,” he said. “I don’t know exactly how she got herself buried in the snow though.”

“I see,” Gabriel said thoughtfully. “Is she alright?”

“She’s better now, but if it’s okay with you, could I stay with her for a while? Her parents are out of town for a week and I don’t feel comfortable leaving her alone,” Adrien requested. He didn’t think it would work, but he still needed to be Chat Noir and being with Marinette would be a perfect excuse.

“Very well. I’ll send Gorilla to pick you up tomorrow afternoon,” Gabriel said after a moment’s thought. “Adrien, do you like this girl?”

“Yes, I—she’s a really good friend,” Adrien said, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish grin.

“Are you planning on dating this girl?” Gabriel clarified. Adrien paled.

“Um, well, I would like to, but I haven’t asked her out yet…I don’t know if she’d say yes,” Adrien said.

“When you ask her out, let me know. I’ll help make arrangements,” Gabriel said. Adrien’s eyes widened in shock, but his father wasn’t done. “I’ll also be asking Natalie to clear your schedule for the rest of the weekend, since your day today was interrupted. Marinette was one of the friends you were going to see a movie with today, correct?”

“Um, yes?” Adrien said. He knew it came out as more of a question than a proper answer but his father didn’t seem to notice.

“Hm, that’s what I thought. Reschedule your movie for Sunday. I imagine Marinette would appreciate having tomorrow to recover,” he said. “Adrien, I am giving you a lot of freedom this weekend. Please prove to me that you are capable of handling this, and call myself, Natalie, or Gorilla if anything happens.”

“I will, Father. Thank you,” Adrien said. His father hummed in response, and the call ended.

“What just happened?” he asked out loud. He shook his head and walked downstairs, finding Marinette sitting on the couch on her phone with her hair back in her usual pigtails, frowning at something on the screen. She looked up and smiled when he walked over.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Yeah. It was my dad, actually. I don’t know why he was using Natalie’s phone to call me, but I didn’t ask. He cleared my schedule for the rest of the weekend, and he kind of told me to spend the night here,” he said with a wince. “If you don’t want me to, it’s okay. I can call Gorilla to pick me up later or go to Nino’s house or something, but I told him I didn’t really want you to be home alone after today…”

“You’re always welcome here, Adrien. Of course you can stay,” she said, smiling. “I don’t want you to be alone tonight either. Did he say anything else?”

“No, not really. He said to reschedule our movie day with the others to Sunday, but that’s about it,” he said. He didn’t want to make things weird by bringing up his dad basically ordering him to ask her out. They hadn’t discussed the kiss—or kisses—yet, or the thing she was saying about an act of true love, so he thought that should wait.

“Okay. We’ll reschedule with the others later. Right now, I think I know how to defeat Disney-Binder,” she said, looking over at him with a sly grin. “How’s your singing?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do y'all think? Should his song be: 1) from the movie for the next chapter, 2) related to the movie for the next chapter and punny and romantic, or 3) completely unrelated but really funny in this context? (I actually need help deciding so...please let me know what you would rather read.)
> 
> Also I'm thinking about adding an extra chapter to this related to a minor comment made in this chapter. Would y'all be interested?
> 
> For the next chapter, I plan on incorporating a short moment for each side of the love square. It's going to be very fun.


	8. Hey! Hey!...Did You Like the Song?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien is a princess one last time, Hawk Moth reappears for like two seconds, and ALL SIDES OF THE LOVE SQUARE GET A MOMENT. Also Alya and Nino reappear because how can you have a Miraculous fic where they don't constantly have cameos even if they aren't part of the main story?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...I ended up going with Song Option 3 because I thought it made for a funnier moment. There was a line from the movie I was referencing that I just, I couldn't pass it up. I hope you all like the route I took. BUT I PROMISE THE SONG FOR OPTION 2 (aka the punny love song) WILL BE USED IN THIS FIC AND THEY WILL BE SINGING IT. It just works SO MUCH BETTER as a duet and so I needed Marinette to sing it with him but the scene I had planned for that moment in this chapter couldn't have her singing with him and it would be criminal to pass up that opportunity. That song is referenced in this chapter so it'll give you something to look forward to.
> 
> This one is shorter than the last couple of chapters have been but I tried to fit as much fluff in it as I could.
> 
> Adrienette, Ladrien, Ladynoir, Marichat, and finally Adrienette again.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Disney-Binder,” Hawk Moth’s voice boomed inside the akuma’s head, accompanied by the light of a butterfly outline around her eyes.

“Yes, Hawk Moth?” she asked. She had just landed on a rooftop. She was looking for the heroes to get their miraculous for him, as she had been for the past hour, but they seemed to have disappeared.

“The girl Chat Noir cataclysmed is still alive,” Hawk Moth said. “How is that possible? She should have died.”

“When you gave me my powers, whether this was intentional or not, you bound me to only being able to use Disney magic. Everything I’ve done can be undone with tricks from the Disney movies they came from, provided the person follows certain procedures,” she explained. “Think of it like fine print, or a loophole in a contract. If you know about it, you can take advantage of it. That attack came from the movie Frozen, and the magic in that movie could be reversed by love. Any act of pure love, be it platonic, familial, or romantic, would reverse it if they discovered it in time. When the girl jumped in front of Chat Noir, she recreated the movie scene that used platonic love to reverse the magic, so she survived.”

“I see,” he said thoughtfully. “Find Ladybug and Chat Noir quickly. Trap people inside the Notre Dame and set homes on fire; turn people into frogs, men into monsters, mothers into bears; bring household objects to life; stage a coup; do whatever you have to do in order to draw them out and defeat them.”

“Yes, Hawk Moth,” she said, a plan already forming in her mind. Hawk Moth smiled and ended the connection.

He had a feeling this would be the plan that finally succeeds.

.  
.  
.

“So you’re clear on the plan?” Marinette asked for what may have been the tenth time, pacing around her room nervously and playing with the sleeve of her sweater. Adrien sighed in a fond exasperation.

“Yes, Marinette, I’m clear on the plan,” he said for the tenth time. “It’ll work. Your plans always do.”

“But what if it doesn’t?” she asked.

“Then we’ll deal with it then. Together,” he said, echoing the words she had used to comfort him earlier. He could tell they’d had the desired effect when she took a deep breath and Ladybug took over her, filling her blue eyes with a confident determination.

“Okay,” she said, offering him a warm smile. “Then let’s do this. Tikki, spots on!”

Adrien watched her transformation with a goofy smile. It was the first time he had gotten to see another Miraculous holder transform, and the fact that it was his Lady’s transformation just made it better. She smiled shyly at him when she caught him staring.

“What?” she asked. He shrugged.

“No, nothing, I just never thought I’d see you transform. It’s pretty miraculous,” he said, his love-sick smile morphing into a Cheshire-grin at the pun. She rolled her eyes.

“You are something else, you know that?” she asked. He smirked.

“I know,” he said smugly. “Plagg—“

“Adrien, wait,” she interrupted. He looked up at her in confusion. She wasn’t quite sure why he had punched the air just then, but decided not to ask. She took a moment to channel all of the bravery her spots provided, then closed the space with two quick steps and kissed him.

Just like their kiss that morning, the intensity and passion she poured into the moment stole his breath away. He kissed her back fiercely, wanting to savor this while he could. She pulled away too quickly in his opinion, and they were left with matching blushes.

“I just, I wanted to do that once in case Disney-Binder does something to you again, so that you'd know that not all of today was forced,” she said quietly while skillfully avoiding his gaze. He smiled warmly.

“Why don’t we talk about this later?” he suggested gently. She nodded quickly, and he leaned over and kissed her cheek quickly, smirking proudly when her blush darkened. She huffed at his expression.

“Muscle up, Buttercup,” she said, ruffling his hair. He laughed and called for his transformation. Once the light faded, the two heroes darted out into the late afternoon light to look for Disney-Binder.

They weren’t looking for very long. There was a trail of devastated greenery they were able to follow. The whole city looked as though a horrible darkness had seeped into every crack and crevice and was destroying it from the inside out. This devastation was very different from a Cataclysm, though. It was almost as if the city had begun to rot.

They found Disney-Binder in the Tuileries Gardens, surrounded by decaying plants and snow, with a path cleared to lead directly to her. The now-setting sun cast a strange glow on everything, making the snow and the akuma herself look like they were made of fire and stone. They could see Alya and Nino filming from as safe of a distance as Alya ever is. Making sure to not be seen, Ladybug swung away from Chat Noir to approach them, setting up the first phase of their plan. Chat walked up the path, grinning like a madman when the akuma’s eyes landed on him.

“Disney-Binder! I am Chat Noir of Paris! You will surrender now and give me your object!” he yelled, pointing at the akuma dramatically. She blinked at him once before frowning.

“Has that ever worked for you before?” she asked.

“Not once!” he admitted, still yelling. “But I practiced it like ten times today so I thought I would try!”

“I hope you’re ready for a fight,” she said, waving her hands. A small—in both number and stature—army appeared around him. They looked like little round balls with arms and legs, wearing warrior paint on their surprisingly expressive faces. Chat realized what they were and took out his baton.

“Coconuts,” he muttered as they attacked him. He swung his baton and took them out with relative ease, glad that for once this akuma made something easy and the coconut monsters just disappeared when he swung at them like the Sapotis did. Once they were gone he turned back to the akuma. “You’ll have to try harder than that.”

“I see what’s happening here,” Disney-Binder said, smirking at him. “You’re here to atone for your mistakes, maybe get a heart back? It’s nice to know that heroes never change.”

At that moment, Chat noticed a flash of red swinging into position behind the akuma, and knew it was time for his distraction.

“Are you just trying to get me to talk about myself?” Chat asked. “Because if you are, I will gladly do so.”

“What?” the akuma asked, frowning at him.

“In song!” he announced dramatically, clapping his hands together. He heard Alya shriek from wherever she was hiding now, but recognized it as her excited scream and not her scared one.

“I like the cheech-a-cheech-chee-roni  
Like they make at home,  
Or a healthy fish with the big backbone.  
I'm Abraham deLacy;” he sang, smiling when Nino came through with the backing track Ladybug had asked him for. "Giuseppe Casey;  
Thomas O’Malley...  
O'Malley, the alley cat!”

He started to dance to the beat, twirling his baton in an elaborate choreography that looked ridiculously well rehearsed.

"I've got that wanderlust,  
Gotta walk the scene.  
Gotta kick up highway dust  
Feel the grass that's green.  
Gotta strut them city streets,  
Showin' off my éclat, yeah!  
Tellin' my friends of the social elite,  
Or some cute cat I happen to meet,  
That I'm Abraham deLacy;  
Giuseppe Casey;  
Thomas O’Malley...  
O'Malley, the alley cat!”

“If you hear my name across all of Europe,” he said with an over-the-top bow, “why, that’s because I’m the only Chat of my kind."

"I'm king of the highway!  
Prince of the boulevard!  
Duke of the avant garde...  
The world is my backyard!  
So if you're goin' my way,  
That's the road you wanna seek!  
Calcutta to Rome,  
Or home-sweet-home in Paris,  
Magnifique, you all!”

“Nino!” he heard Alya hiss. “Chat can sing!”

“Shhh,” Nino scolded her. “Listen!”

"I only got myself,  
And this big ol’ world!  
When I sip that cup of life  
With my fingers curled,  
I don't worry what road to take!  
I don't have to think of that!  
Whatever I take is the road I make.  
It's the road of life make no mistake, for me!  
Yeah, Abraham deLacy;  
Giuseppe Casey;  
Thomas O’Malley...  
O'Malley, the alley cat!”

Right at that break in the song, Ladybug took advantage of the shocked expression on the akuma’s face to swing in and rip the green broach from around her neck, effectively knocking her over. He noticed a red and black spotted hair tie around his partner's wrist as she landed next to him, and frowned for a second before shaking his head and finishing his song.

"That's right! And I'm very proud o’ that!” Chat finished, striking a pose. “Yeah!”

Alya and Nino started cheering, and even Ladybug applauded him with an amused expression before breaking the object and purifying the akuma. She tugged the unused hair tie from her wrist.

“What were you supposed to do with that?” Chat asked, glancing at the akuma victim who was now back to normal.

“I have no idea,” Ladybug replied. “I’m kind of glad I didn’t have to find out. Miraculous Ladybug!”

The hair tie flew up into the air before bursting into the glowing pink ladybugs that would fix all of the damage caused by the akuma. Ladybug reached out her fist for their celebratory fist-bump, just like she always did at this point in their battles. Unlike how things always are, however, this time Chat knew who she was under the mask. So this time, instead of tapping his knuckles against hers, he gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a sweet kiss. He pulled away after just a second and leaned his forehead against hers with a bright smile.

“Pound it,” he said. Ladybug burst out laughing and nudged him away gently.

“Silly kitty,” she teased, her smile matching his.

The moment was ruined by a deafening squawk coming from a certain young reporter. It was quickly muffled, causing the heroes to believe Nino had slapped a hand over her mouth. Then they heard him yelp and the scream-squawk continued and grew louder. They turned around to see Alya running towards them, still screaming, until Nino practically tackled her into the grass. He pinned her under him carefully, making sure she wasn’t hurt, but they heard him tell his girlfriend to leave them be and she can get interviews from them later.

“Well, Chaton,” Ladybug said, barely containing her laughter, “unless you want to spend hours with Alya while she asks us a million questions, we should probably get out of here.”

“You know she’ll do it anyway, right?” Chat asked.

“Of course. But do you want to deal with it right now?” she retaliated. He glanced over at their two friends before shaking his head quickly.

“Nope. Shall we, my Lady?” he asked, holding out his hand. She took it and they made their way back to the bakery, being careful that they weren’t followed. They touched down on Marinette’s balcony just as her timer ran out and she detransformed. “Huh. I didn’t even hear it beeping.”

“I think Alya’s screaming covered just about everything else,” she said with a laugh. She opened the trapdoor and dropped inside, landing on her bed with practiced ease. Chat’s landing was slightly clumsier, but he managed to land on his feet and look relatively graceful. At least until he lost his balance and landed on top of her.

“Apparently I am still falling,” he said without thinking. Marinette blinked widely at him for two seconds before nudging him into a seated position with a smirk.

“Think you’ll stick the landing, kitty?” she asked, leaning in close enough that her lips almost brushed against his when she spoke. She didn’t even notice that one of her hands had settled on his thigh.

The proximity made his brain shut down. His eyes grew wider than Marinette had ever seen them before, and she wasn’t quite sure he was breathing. Her first thought was, ‘Oh no, I broke him.’ Her second thought was something along the lines of, ‘I wonder...if I break him more, will it restart everything and fix him?’

“Ladybug got your tongue?” she asked flirtatiously, tapping the hand on his thigh briefly before getting up and heading down the stairs towards the trapdoor into the rest of the house. She was halfway there and taking her Ladybug sweater off before Chat came back to his senses.

“Marinette! You can’t just run away like that!” he practically whined. Her only response was to giggle and run downstairs as quickly as she could. “Oh, apparently you can…you keep surprising me…”

He shook his head and dropped his transformation before darting down after her. He found her sitting on the kitchen counter eating a cookie and doing a little happy dance with her shoulders while her legs swung in time to a beat only she could hear. He was so distracted by how cute she was that he missed the last step and landed on the ground with a groan.

“Adrien! Are you okay?” Marinette asked, watching him with wide eyes. He laughed and stood up, brushing himself off.

“I guess now I know how you usually feel,” he teased her. She pouted and grabbed another cookie from the plate behind her. “You’re acting weird.”

“I’m sorry?” she asked, not quite sure if she should be offended.

“I don’t know, I just…if there’s something you want to tell me, just tell me!” he exclaimed, then hesitated. “Is there something you want to tell me?”

“Is there something you want to hear?” she asked, being intentionally coy. She noticed that Adrien seemed to deflate a little, and her eyes flicked around the room, coming up with a plan to cheer him up. When she had one in mind, she smirked. “How about this: the floor is lava.”

His eyes widened comically before he leapt onto the counter next to her, almost knocking her off in the process. He managed to catch her at the last second and pulled her close. He could feel her shoulders shaking as she giggled.

“I lava you,” he blurted out. Marinette looked up at him as a blush covered his cheeks and spread to his ears and down his neck. He started to stammer out a half-hearted apology but she silenced him with a kiss.

“I lava you too,” she said, her blush matching his. He grinned at her and kissed her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please just imagine this: Ladybug as Maui, Chat as a very freeform mix of Moana and Tamatoa, Alya as Heihei, and Nino as the Ocean. (Plus the akuma as a Maui/Te Ka mix.) And yes, Alya bit Nino's hand.
> 
> Did any of you get all of the references to other movies that are in this one? There are 6 (not including the Aristocats song).


	9. Keep Moving Forward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmares, movies, and pancakes. Plus a very entertaining phone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just some Adrienette fluff! There's a minute of angst in the beginning but I needed a way to set up for the rest of this chapter, which was only because I watched the movie in this before writing this chapter and wanted an excuse to have them watch it too. Marinette's reactions are literally how I was reacting to watching it again with this fic in mind.
> 
> Enjoy!

Adrien was standing in the park, surrounded by snow when he heard a terrifyingly familiar scream behind him. He whirled around and saw Ladybug collapse, her red suit darker than usual and a horrified, pained expression on her pale face. Her blood was pooling underneath her at a sickening rate. He rushed towards her and heard his ring beep as he reached out a black-gloved hand to touch her.

“Kitty…” Ladybug whispered as her transformation fell, leaving a crying Marinette in her place. She tried to reach out to him, but as she did so her hand began to turn to stone.

“Marinette, no…no!” he yelled, not taking his eyes off of her. She was shaking like a leaf, and he cupped her cheek to steady her. “We can fix this! You’ll be okay, we can fix it! You’ll be okay…”

“N-not, this ti-time,” she whispered through stuttering breaths. She forced a wobbly, pained smile. “You di-didn’t mean it…”

“No! We can fix this, we can! Plagg, claws in!” he said, panicking. The light of his transformation washed over him, blinding him as Marinette stiffened against his hand. He thought he heard her whisper, “I love you,” but by the time his eyes reopened it was too late to ask. She had turned completely to stone.

He sobbed and screamed and cursed, but nothing would bring her back this time. There was no act of true love, no Disney magic to adhere to, no flower or glowing light that could reverse the clock. His other hand reached to brush against the curve of her hair, but as soon as he touched her she crumbled into dust that seeped through his fingers and was blown away in the breeze. All that was left of her was a pair of red and black spotted earrings in the snow.

“Adrien,” Plagg’s voice called to him, but he didn’t want to talk to his kwami.

“Adrien,” Plagg tried again, more insistently this time.

“Adrien!” Plagg said again, raising his voice.

“Adrien, wake up!” Plagg yelled, and the smell of Camembert finally got through to the boy.

“Marinette!” Adrien screamed as he sat up, looking around with wild eyes. He didn’t recognize where he was at first, he just knew he wasn’t in his bedroom. He slowly realized he was on a couch. The moonlight streaming in through the windows illuminated the room, and he remembered where he was all at once. 

He was in Marinette’s house. His father had told him to spend the night with her when Adrien said he was worried about her since she had almost frozen in the snow the akuma caused. Marinette's parents called right after they had finished dinner, and Marinette explained the situation to them. Adrien was somewhat surprised they were okay with it but he didn’t question it. Marinette had given him one of her dad’s t-shirts and had found a pair of flannel pants she had made as a test towards the end of last year when she had started designing male clothes. The fit wasn’t quite right because she had used Nino’s measurements, but he made them work. He had insisted on sleeping on the couch in the living room so as to not make her uncomfortable, which Marinette had argued against. Still, he had insisted, and she had finally given in when he curled up on the couch and pretended to be asleep. She had thrown a blanket over him, affectionately called him Sleeping Beauty while ruffling his hair, and gone upstairs to get some much needed rest. He had actually fallen asleep not long after.

“Hey, it was just a nightmare, kid. Whatever you saw isn’t real,” Plagg said, floating into Adrien’s line of sight. He took a shaky breath and nodded.

“She still alive,” he murmured, rubbing his arms to stop himself from trembling.

Plagg felt his heart break for his Chosen. While he had never watched a Chosen physically crumble into dust the way Tikki had, he had seen the emotional destruction his Black Cats went through when they Cataclysmed their Ladybugs. Even when a Black Cat and a Ladybug were enemies, there was still an intense emotional fallout from destroying your literal other half. It always started with nightmares. Then they would begin to see their Bug everywhere they turned. It eventually drove them mad, and they either gave up the ring or relentlessly chased down their imagined Bugs. And God forbid Tikki chose a new Ladybug to work with a Cat when that happened…it always ended poorly, and Plagg didn’t want that for Adrien.

To the kwami, it was a miracle this Ladybug had survived. Just like Tikki had been relieved for her Chosen’s sake, he was relieved for his. He knew Adrien was strong, but Plagg didn’t think he was strong enough to be the reason he lost his Bug. If he was honest, Plagg didn’t think Adrien would ever be able to cope if he lost her, whether he was the cause or not. He would always blame himself for not being able to protect her, or for not taking better care of her. Plagg just hoped that since Marinette had survived, Adrien wouldn’t have to go through the emotional fallout, and would be lucky enough to only have to deal with nightmares for a while.

Tikki flew into the room, her eyes wide, and Plagg realized Tikki would be treading through mostly unknown territory with her Bug. Plagg knew more or less what to expect with Adrien, but neither of them knew what to expect from Marinette.

“Adrien,” Tikki said quietly, flying over to them. “Marinette is having a nightmare. I can’t wake her up.”

Plagg heard the worry as clear as day in Tikki’s voice. Adrien must have heard it too because he nodded once, got off the couch, and bounded up the stairs to her room. Plagg floated over to Tikki and hugged her tightly.

“Why can’t we fix this?” Tikki whispered as she returned the hug.

“I don’t know, Tikki. I wish I did,” Plagg said sadly. “I think this is just something they have to deal with on their own. The only thing we can do is make sure we’re there when they need us to be.”

Meanwhile, Adrien had climbed up to Marinette’s bed and was kneeling on the edge of it. She was crying in her sleep, letting out the most heartbreaking whimpers he had ever heard. He put a hand on her shoulder and began to shake her awake.

“Marinette? Come on, Marinette, wake up. It’s just a dream,” he said, shaking her with more force. She only seemed to get more distraught. “Marinette!”

Her whole body started shaking, and one of her arms flung out from under the blanket and smacked him in the face with a force only Ladybug could muster. He recoiled from the attack and hit his head against the wall behind him.

“If that’s how hard I hit her with the frying pan, no wonder she said she thought she knew my identity then…if she had hit me that hard when I didn’t know she was Ladybug, I would have figured it out immediately,” he mused ruefully as he rubbed the back of his head. Her arms swung out wildly again, and he had to dive out of the way to avoid being hit again. “Stop it!”

He managed to grab her wrists, and proceeded to straddle her thighs just in case she started trying to kick him too. He switched his hold so both of her hands were in one of his, and only marveled at how small her wrists were for one second—or two, but who’s counting?—before trying to shake her awake again.

“Marinette!” he all but yelled, giving her one more hard shake. Her eyes snapped open and he could tell she was struggling to shift them into focus properly. His heart broke when he saw how full of fear they were.

“Marinette? Are you okay?” he asked gently, releasing her wrists. She still wasn’t focusing properly on him, and all she saw was the black t-shirt he was wearing and the moonlight shining on his blonde hair and green eyes.

“Chat? What, I…” she trailed off and her eyes widened, finally focusing. “Adrien?”

“It’s just me, Princess. You’re safe. It was just a bad dream,” he said. She lunged up and wrapped her arms around him tightly. She was crying again, and he rubbed her back soothingly.

“I thought…I thought I didn’t get in front of the sword in time…” she whimpered into his shoulder. He sighed and held her tighter.

“I had a similar nightmare,” he admitted. “But that’s all it was, right? It was just a nightmare.”

“Just a nightmare,” she echoed. They sat there for a long time, too wound up to go back to sleep, but too tired to move out from each other’s arms.

“Do you want to try to sleep again? I can stay here to make sure you don’t have another nightmare,” Adrien offered when he heard her breathing even out. Marinette shook her head fiercely.

“Can we watch a movie?” she asked. Adrien smiled.

“What movie?” he asked. She hummed in thought for a minute.

“Meet the Robinsons,” she said. “It’s on Netflix. My laptop is on the desk.”

“Sounds good to me. I haven’t seen it in years. Want popcorn or something?” he asked as he untangled himself from her arms. He chuckled despite himself when she whined.

“No, just the movie. Unless you’re hungry,” she said. He shook his head and grabbed the computer. He went to sit next to her, but she lifted up the blankets and motioned for him to get under them.

“Are you sure?” he asked. She frowned at him.

“Of course I’m sure,” she said. “Do not argue with me. You did earlier and we both had awful nightmares.”

“You’re right,” he conceded to make her happy, grinning when she smiled up at him. He slid in next to her on her left side and his arms wrapped around her waist like they were always meant to be there. She turned on the movie and snuggled into his chest to watch. Plagg and Tikki flew into the room when they heard the movie start and settled on a pillow next to them.

They were about twenty minutes into the movie when Marinette started giggling uncontrollably. Adrien turned to her in confusion as she buried her face in her hands to muffle her laughter, but she showed no signs of regaining control of herself. He glanced back at the screen to see the black-haired boy dart out from his hiding place and press a crumpled up ball of paper into Lewis’s hand while doing a very bad job of cooing like a pigeon. He paused the movie and looked at her strangely.

“Are you okay?” he asked. She shook her head and laughed harder. “It’s a funny scene, I’ll give you that, but I don’t get it…”

“It’s not—it’s not the scene!” she said, trying and failing to get herself under control. She took a couple of deep breaths and tried again, this time managing to speak with far fewer giggles. “It’s just, you would do that! If I was ripping out pages from my sketchbook or something and threw one away, you would do that.”

“…yeah,” he admitted, causing her to laugh even harder. “Wait, but if I remember this movie correctly, wasn’t the dark-haired kid Lewis’s son who stole his father’s time machine? He looks like his mom, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” she said, not quite following his train of thought.

“So then wouldn’t that be my kid doing that?” he asked. Marinette paused for a minute then nodded.

“Yeah, I guess it would,” she said. Tikki started giggling. “He’d take after you.”

“Actually Marinette, I think he would take after both of you,” the red kwami said. “After all, he did steal the time machine…”

“Tikki!” Marinette squealed, shooting her kwami a pointed look. Adrien and Plagg chuckled at her reaction.

“What, does my Lady have a mischievous side that I don’t know about?” Adrien asked. Marinette glared at Tikki as if telling her to keep quiet. Plagg chucked in an, ‘I want to hear this,’ way.

“Let’s just say,” Tikki started, pointedly avoiding Marinette’s gaze and focusing on Adrien, “that Marinette and Plagg would get on like a house on fire.”

“Yes! You finally picked a chaotic one!” Plagg cheered. Adrien looked between his kwami and the girl in his arms with a smirk.

“Good to know,” he teased her, “so now I can plan for you and Plagg to never be left alone together.”

“I’m not that bad!” she declared.

“Uh-huh,” Tikki said, shooting her a knowing smile that Adrien was far too curious about.

“I always return everything…” Marinette mumbled so quietly that Adrien could barely make out what she said.

“Wait, do you steal stuff?” Adrien asked incredulously.

“Only when I have to!” she defended herself. “And one of those things was because Tikki told me to!”

“Don’t drag me into this! That had to do with the miraculous! That book was missing! Master Fu needed to see it!” Tikki exclaimed. Plagg started laughing.

“Oh, is this one a bad influence on you, Tikki?” he teased.

“Well if someone had done their job,” Tikki responded with a pointed look towards Plagg, “she wouldn’t have to be.”

“Wait, what book? Are you talking about my father’s book? Are you the reason it went missing?” Adrien asked. Marinette could tell he wasn’t upset, he just genuinely wanted to know what happened.

“Yeah…Tikki saw you and then Lila looking at it in the library and told me I needed to bring it to Master Fu, which is why I thought that your father might be Hawk Moth. Master Fu thought that whoever Hawk Moth was most likely had that book…” Marinette explained. “I actually thought you were Hawk Moth until I heard it was your father’s book. I returned it to him! And I told him that I was the one who took it.”

“So that’s why he let me go back to school,” Adrien said, smiling at her. “Well, at least it all ended well. Have you stolen anything else?”

“Can we not talk about this please?” she asked, reaching to resume the movie. Adrien caught her hand to stop her.

“I’m just curious,” he said. “I think it’s funny.”

“You know what they say about curiosity and cats,” she grumbled. He smirked.

“Ah yes, but the satisfaction…” he said. She huffed.

“Fine. I also kind of, maybe, sort of stole your phone one time? And Alya’s, and Chloe’s…and that one photographer’s SD card…but I had my reasons! I took Alya’s because I accidentally deleted a Ladybug interview she had gotten and I wanted to recreate it without her knowing, and then I took Chloe’s because she had a video of me breaking into Principal Damocles’s office when I went to steal the SD card so we would have to retake the class photo so Juleka could be in it,” she said.

“When Juleka became Reflekta, right?” he asked. Marinette nodded. “Wait, why did you steal my phone? And when?”

“That, um, that was kind of the day that Theo was akumatized into Copycat…” Marinette said, wincing. “That was why I missed the statue unveiling…”

“Okay, that tells me when, but why?” he asked. She buried her face in her hands again.

“I kind of left a really embarrassing voicemail when I tried to call you and invite you to go see a movie and I couldn’t let you hear it so I asked Tikki to help me open your locker so I get your phone and delete the message,” she said all in one breath. Adrien laughed.

“What did the voicemail say?” he asked. She glared at him.

“We’re not talking about this,” she deadpanned. “We are not talking about this. Besides, I’m not the only one in our class who steals things! Sabrina stole my diary! Or at least she stole the box it was in. And Chloe stole Tikki!”

“Chloe stole Tikki?” Adrien and Plagg asked at the same time. Tikki seemed irked by the reminder.

“Yes! When that prince came into town and was collecting toys for the hospital. Tikki was sick and I needed to bring her to Master Fu and Chloe thought she was a toy and stole her,” Marinette huffed. “Can we just finish the movie?”

“I think I understand why you filled Aladdin’s role yesterday,” Adrien teased as he pressed play. Marinette shot him a scandalized look before settling back into his arms.

They made it another 25 minutes before Marinette started giggling again. Not as hard this time, but enough to draw his attention.

“What?” he asked, smiling at the glee on her face.

“Hawk Moth is Bowler Hat Guy,” she said simply. This time Adrien huffed out a laugh with a shake of his head and turned back to the movie.

“No one’s ever really sure how well his plans are thought through,” the blond muttered after Frankie the frog refused Bowler Hat Guy’s order.

They both started laughing when the dinosaur failed as well and Marinette muttered, “@Animan,” under her breath. When the movie finally ended, Adrien nudged Marinette’s arm to get her attention.

“You know, you kind of remind me of Franny,” he said. She smirked before glaring at him teasingly.

“Do you think I’m crazy?” she asked. He laughed.

“Not at all,” he said. “I just think you look like young Franny, mostly because of the pigtails. And she had some pretty good fighting moves. Plus you’re usually right.”

“That’s fair. You could totally be Lewis though. You’re really good at science. If you really wanted to and you had more time, you could be an inventor like that,” she said. Adrien smiled at her. “Also, can we start calling Hawk Moth Goob?”

“Yes. Yes we can,” he said.

“Yay,” she said, covering her mouth as she yawned. “We should try to get some more sleep…”

“I’ll go back downstairs,” Adrien said. Marinette turned and latched onto him tightly before lying down, effectively dragging him with her. “Princess?”

“You stay here. Last time we had nightmares. Maybe this time we won’t,” she said, snuggling into his chest. He smiled and pulled her closer.

“As you wish, my Lady,” he said. They were asleep in minutes, thankfully with no nightmares.

Hours later, Marinette was the first of the pair to stir. She blinked up at the sleeping blond wrapped around her. His hair was messy in the way Chat’s always looked, and she giggled when she noticed Plagg and Tikki curled up in the blond locks. Plagg was purring softly and Tikki had a contented smile on her face, and Adrien looked so peaceful that she never wanted the moment to end. It was a shame kwamis can’t be caught on camera, because it would be an adorable photo. Maybe if she could get her sketchbook…

As if he had read her thoughts, Adrien’s arms tightened around her, preventing her from slipping away from him. She reached up and carded her fingers through his hair gently. She made sure to be careful not to disturb the sleeping kwamis. After a few minutes he began to nuzzle against her hand.

“Good morning,” he said with a sleepy smile. His words were thick and almost slurred in his still mostly-asleep state, but it melted her heart.

“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty,” she said, easing out of his arms to sit up.

“You’re never going to let me live that down, are you, Princess?” he asked, giving her a sleepy frown that was really more of a pout.

“Nope,” she said, popping the ‘p’ with a chuckle. “How’d you sleep?”

“Hmmm, purrfectly,” he hummed, his eyes sliding closed again in a blissful expression. “You?”

“Better than I have in a long time,” she admitted. He grinned.

“Good,” he said. “What time is it?”

“10:15,” she replied after checking her phone and tucking it into the pocket of her pajama bottoms. She had a few missed text messages and a missed call from Alya, but she decided she would worry about those when she was more awake. She had texted Alya the night before to let her know that everything was okay but she was pretty worn out after being frozen during the akuma attack so she would talk to her the next morning. “Do you want pancakes?”

“Yes,” he said, shooting up into a seated position. He barely managed to avoid slamming their heads together as he did so, but Marinette still winced when she saw Plagg and Tikki go flying.

“You woke the kwamis,” she scolded gently. He winced.

“Sorry, Tikki,” he said, waving at the little red kwami. “But to be fair, Plagg knows what happens when he sleeps in my hair. He does so at his own risk.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Plagg grumbled. “Just get me some Camembert—Princess, what was it you called him when you got him down from the tower yesterday?”

“Blondie?” Marinette asked after thinking for a moment. The kwami’s ears perked up.

“Yeah! That one. I’m stealing that one,” he informed her. Marinette laughed.

“Have you seen Tangled?” she asked.

“Well, no, but it suits him,” Plagg said. Tikki just rolled her eyes and moved to sit on Marinette’s shoulder.

“Plagg, will you please be nice?” Adrien asked. Plagg hummed as if weighing his options. Marinette looked at him with a suspicious twinkle in her eyes.

“Hey, Plagg? What if I told you,” Marinette started, tapping her finger against her chin, “that I found some left-over cheese pastries in the freezer that Papa made before he left for his trip? And that I could heat one up for you for breakfast?”

“Yes!” Plagg cheered, pumping a little paw in the air. Marinette held up a finger to silence him.

“Ah-ah, there’s a catch. You have to promise to be nice,” she said. 

Tikki giggled at the torn look on Plagg’s face. She knew better than anyone that while the kwami cared deeply, he had a very grumpy demeanor and didn’t often like to show his softer side.

“Fine,” he eventually agreed. “But it had better be a good cheese pastry.”

“My parent’s pastries are the best,” Marinette said, feigning offense. Adrien laughed at her antics.

“She’s right,” he said, giving Plagg a pointed look. His kwami huffed.

“At least you learned something from the movie last night,” the cat muttered.

“Shall we go make breakfast then?” Marinette asked. Adrien and the kwamis nodded, so Marinette climbed across Adrien’s lap to the stairs. He chuckled at her, commenting on how he would have moved if she’d asked him to, but she just waved him off. They all made their way downstairs and Marinette busied herself in the kitchen.

She was flitting around with practiced ease, pulling out ingredients and asking Tikki or Adrien for help getting the things she couldn’t reach. She popped the cheese pastry and cookies in the oven to warm for the kwamis and set to work on the pancake batter. She was practically up to her elbows in the batter when her phone rang from inside her pocket.

“Adrien, can you get that and put it on speaker for me?” she asked, bumping him with the hip that had her phone in it. He smiled and pulled it out, doing as she asked with only a glance at the caller ID. “Hello?”

“Hey girl! It’s about time you answer! I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for the past thirty minutes!” Alya said.

“Sorry Alya! I didn’t hear it go off!” Marinette apologized. “I’ve been a little busy.”

“This early? Busy doing what?” Alya asked. Marinette was about to respond when Adrien caught her off guard by sticking a cookie in her mouth. She hummed indignantly and frowned at him, her eyes widening when he shot her a cheeky grin. “Marinette? Doing what?”

“Me,” he called proudly, leaning in close to the phone speaker to make sure he was heard. 

There were a few tense seconds of silence that Adrien wisely utilized to start backing out of the kitchen before Ladybug was unleashed and he had to make a break for it. He was still grinning proudly at the stunned look on her face, half a cookie still sticking out of her mouth. Tikki was watching him with wide eyes, but he caught her mouth twitching into an amused smile. He could hear Plagg cackling in Marinette’s bedroom, where he must have flown off to so the phone wouldn’t pick up his voice. Adrien crept up the stairs so he would be near his kwami if he needed to transform in a hurry.

“Adrien…?” Nino’s voice shattered the silence, and all hell broke loose among the teenagers. 

Alya started screaming. Nino was desperately trying to understand what was going on and simultaneously yelling at Alya to stop running in circles. Marinette all but choked on the cookie, and Adrien ran over to help her when she started coughing, spewing apologies while trying to keep a straight face. She almost sent the pancake batter flying but he caught it at the last second and set it safely on another counter. Tikki somehow managed to turn off the oven when the timer went off so the pastries wouldn’t burn and accidentally set the whole house on fire. Plagg could be heard laughing from Marinette’s room and Adrien just prayed no one would notice because he did not want to try to explain that. Adrien grabbed a glass and filled it with water, passing it off to Marinette with a smile that he tried to make look sheepish but had far too much Chat in it to be effective. She glared at him and took a sip of water.

“You,” Marinette rasped out when she could breathe again, which was the same time Alya stopped screaming, “Adrien, you have lost speaker phone privileges.”

“But Princesssssss!” Adrien whined. “I didn’t mean for you to choke! That was an accident! I thought it would be funny!”

“That is twice in two days, Agreste,” she tried to growl, but the action sent her into another coughing fit. She looked like she had something else she wanted to say, but she couldn’t get the words out in time.

“Bro, did you spend the night?” Nino asked, at the same time Alya shrieked, “Princess?"

“Yes,” he said, finding it an appropriate response to both questions.

“Alya, before you ask, yes my parents know he stayed over. When they called last night we told them about me getting buried in snow, and that he wanted to stay so I wouldn’t be alone,” Marinette rushed to explain.

“Dude, how did you get your dad to agree?” Nino asked, effectively cutting off whatever Alya was going to say if her indignant huff was any indication.

“It was actually his idea,” Adrien admitted. “I was only going to stay with her for the afternoon, until I was sure she was fine, but Father kind of ordered me to spend the night? He also said to reschedule our movie day with everyone for Sunday instead.”

“Was he an akuma?” Alya asked suspiciously.

“No, that phone call took place during the Disney-Binder fight,” Marinette said. “And I don’t think there’s a Disney movie that would cause him to act like that. I could be wrong, but I don’t think so.”

“I don’t know what he was thinking. I just didn’t question it,” Adrien said.

“That’s fair," Nino said. "What are we planning for the movie day tomorrow? Same plan as yesterday?"

"I have a better idea! We do the movie since everyone wants to see it, but then we go over to Sunshine's house and go in the pool and do karaoke? Do you think your dad will let us, Adrien?" Alya asked.

"I can ask him. It is supposed to be a really warm day tomorrow...maybe since he said he was giving me more freedom this weekend, he would be okay with it," Adrien mused. "I'll let you guys know."

"Perfect!" Alya cheered. "So have you guys kissed?”

“Alya!” Marinette exclaimed.

“Yes,” Adrien said, grinning at Marinette’s scandalized expression. “What? It’s true! And it had nothing to do with the akuma.”

“Okay, I need to know everything! What happened?” Alya insisted. Marinette shook her head so Adrien wouldn’t say anything.

“I’ll tell you later, Alya. I promise,” she said instead. Alya grumbled something, but they couldn’t understand what it was. “Why don’t you and Nino go on a date and then later you can come over and we can talk?”

“Sounds good to me,” Nino said. Marinette could practically see the baby-doll eyes he was no doubt giving Alya right then. That girl may be immune to them from Manon, but she crumbled whenever Nino used them against her.

“Alright, alright. But I want all of the details later,” Alya said.

“We’ll talk, I promise,” Marinette replied. 

They all said their goodbyes and Marinette hung up the phone. She looked at Adrien with a mixture of fond amusement and irritation. She turned away from him and pulled the warmed cookies and cheese pastry out of the oven, putting them on a plate for the kwamis.

“Plagg, we hung up the phone! You can come eat now!” she yelled up towards her bedroom. The kwami was there in record time. While he and Tikki ate happily, Marinette went back to making pancakes for her and Adrien. She was using her Papa’s crepe recipe.

“I really am sorry about the cookie thing,” Adrien said, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her. She sighed.

“I know. I’m not mad,” she promised. “But just so you know for future reference, there are some things I don’t tell Alya.”

“But she’s your best friend. I thought you told her everything,” he said, tilting his head to look at her. Her lips twitched up into a small smile as she grabbed a plate for the crepes. She swapped out the cooked one for more batter with practiced ease.

“Well, I obviously don’t tell her about the Ladybug stuff. Or Chat Noir visiting my bedroom on occasion,” she said, looking up at him. “Chat’s the only person who knows about all of that. Even if you didn’t know it, I told you a lot more than I told anyone else, except for maybe Tikki.”

“Really?” he asked, his eyes wide. Her smile grew.

“Yes, you dork. You’re my best friend, and now my boyfriend?” she asked hopefully.

“Is that what you want?” he asked, just as hopeful.

“Yes, but is that what you want?” she asked, repeating his words.

“That is definitely what I want,” he said, kissing her temple. “That’s all I ever wanted.”

“Then that’s what you get,” she said with a smile. He grinned and kissed her, but she pulled back with a teasing frown. “Now unless you want to be eating burnt crepes for breakfast, don’t distract me.”

“But you’re just, there! And so easy to distract,” he said, smirking as she turned back to the stove a little too quickly for her to claim she wasn’t flustered.

“Adrien, I swear, if you make me burn a crepe for the first time since I learned how to make them properly, you will only get to eat burnt ones,” she threatened half-heartedly. He chuckled and backed off.

“As you wish, Princess."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh the beginning of the phone call scene is my favorite part of this whole chapter, except for them waking up together. The next one is the last chapter for this fic, but it is going to be a great one. I have a huge plot twist planned, plus two brilliant moments for during their karaoke party so I hope you all are excited. I know I am.
> 
> (Also I feel like it's worth mentioning that during Mr. Pigeon, I kept thinking about Bowler Hat Guy from Meet the Robinsons. I should have known who Hawk Moth was then, lol.)


	10. Oh, I Just Love Happy Endings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Marinette encounter a plot twist, some singing, and a happily ever after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter everyone! I hope you all like the plot twist, and the karaoke party at the end complete with the punny love song I teased three chapters ago. Guess the Disney movie that inspired this one! (Hint, it's a repeat.)
> 
> Some of the songs are linked. The first link is for those who want a visual for what Marinette is actually doing. The second two are my favorite versions of the songs (and the version that inspired way the love song is being sung).
> 
> Adrienette, with some DjWifi, Mylivan, and Heartrate if you squint.
> 
> Enjoy!

The next morning, Adrien walked downstairs wearing the blue shirt and black pants ensemble Marinette had made for him. He loved it, and he wanted to take the opportunity to support his now-girlfriend and show off how talented she is. He wished he could wear the sweater she made him, but it was way too hot for that, and she had asked him to let her keep it until the temperature dropped. She didn’t want to risk accidentally revealing their identities, and she said she had an idea for how to make it seem like it was just a cute couple thing between them. He walked to the dining room for breakfast, typing out a good morning message to Marinette with a bright smile that made Plagg roll his eyes from inside his pocket, until he heard his father’s voice come through the partially opened door.

“Now, be reasonable, Tom. After all, Adrien knows nothing about all this,” his father said. That stopped Adrien short, and he paused outside of the door to listen to the phone call. “Well, it may come as quite a shock… Nothing Tom, I only meant… Now, now… Now, see here… How dare you?”

There was a long pause, and for a moment, Adrien thought his father hung up the phone. He almost took a step forward, but stopped again when he heard his father sigh.

“Nothing Tom. Absolutely nothing,” Gabriel said. “Precisely. If you ask me, I think they may have already. We should break the news soon. I’ll tell him today. Goodbye.” 

“Good morning, Father,” Adrien said as casually as he could when he walked into the room a second after he was sure his father had hung up the phone. Gabriel Agreste looked up from the files he was reviewing.

“Good morning, Adrien,” Gabriel said. He stood and walked towards his son, eyeing his outfit critically. “I don’t recognize that shirt, or those jeans. Where did you get them?”

“Marinette made them this summer, using my measurements,” Adrien said, the hint of a proud smile on his face. “She mentioned to Alya, Nino, and I that she had some designs for men’s clothes that she wanted to stitch together, so Nino and I let her take our measurements a few weeks ago.”

“I see. Your friends are coming over today, correct? Marinette included?” Gabriel asked. Adrien nodded. “I’d like to speak with her about these designs. She has potential. I would like for her to stay for dinner tonight.”

“I’ll let her know,” Adrien promised. His father nodded.

“Please do,” he said. The two sat and began eating their breakfast in relative silence.

“Adrien, you and Marinette are officially a couple now, yes?” Gabriel said towards the end of their meal.

“Yes, sir,” Adrien replied. “As of yesterday morning.”

“Good,” his father said. “She’s a good addition to our family.”

Adrien began to cough as he choked on a badly-timed sip of water.

“She’s, what?” he asked when he could breathe again.

“The two of you are betrothed, Adrien. It was your mother’s wish. Madame Cheng was one of her closest friends at school, and they used to talk about their kids one day growing up and getting married. When you and Marinette were born, her parents and your mother and I put together a marriage agreement for the two of you. It would be easily dissolved if you didn’t get along with her, or if either of you fell in love with someone else, and neither of you would ever have to know it existed if that was the case. Your mothers just thought it would ensure you two would be happy,” Gabriel said, looking at the painting of his wife as he spoke. He turned back to look at Adrien when he didn’t say anything right away. “Really, Adrien, why did you think we had you learn Chinese?”

“I guess I just thought it had something to do with wanting me to be a prepared adult…” Adrien mumbled. His eyes were wide as saucers. “Were you just going to leave it to chance or…?”

“Of course not,” Gabriel said. “You and Marinette played together for the first couple of years, though you were both too young to remember. It was before your mother started acting in all of Audrey Bourgeois’s movies. Your mother would bring you to the movie sets when she went to work, and Audrey started bringing Chloe so you could keep her daughter company. Emilie tried to bring Marinette as well once, but Audrey banned her from the sets and insisted you and Chloe become best friends. Sabine tried to distance Marinette from Chloe after that, and then the two girls started school together and it was immediately obvious they didn’t get along. By that point you and Chloe were getting along, so her father insisted on keeping that arrangement since both of our families went to a lot of society functions, and Tom and Sabine preferred to keep Marinette out of the spotlight as a child…the plan was to reintroduce the two of you when we thought you were old enough to not let Chloe come between you, but when we started thinking it would be a good idea, your mother disappeared, and I decided it wasn’t a good time. Then you started going to school together and became friends on your own.”

“Why did you let Chloe’s mom come between us?” Adrien asked after a long moment.

“Politics, mainly. Audrey Bourgeois and your mother worked very closely on a lot of movies for years, Adrien, you know that. Even after she left her family, Audrey refused to allow her daughter to be brushed aside for a baker’s daughter. Plus, like I said, you interacted with Chloe at all of the society events Marinette wasn’t a part of. It was easier,” Gabriel said with a shrug. “But now you and Marinette are together. Your mother would be happy.”

“I see,” Adrien said. His brain was in the middle of short-circuiting, and he couldn’t come up with anything else.

“Adrien, I just want you to realize that whatever happens is still up to you. I would prefer you stick with the marriage contract because it’s what your mother wanted, but Emilie wouldn’t want you to marry someone you didn’t want to be with. If anything bad should happen, we can always dissolve the contract,” Gabriel said, his expression uncharacteristically soft. Adrien almost got the sense that his father knew something that he didn’t, but he didn’t get the chance to ask. “I just thought I should tell you since it might give you more motivation to hold onto her and make your relationship work.”

“Okay,” Adrien replied. His phone beeped from his pocket. He pulled it out to see a message from Nino.

“You should get going for your movie day. We can talk about this more later,” Gabriel said. He turned on his heel and walked out of the room. Adrien stared at the door, dumbfounded.

“…Plagg? Did you know about this?” he asked quietly. The kwami snickered in response.

“Tikki told me on Friday,” Plagg answered. “When we left Marinette’s room so she could wake you up and the two of you could talk. Apparently she overheard Marinette’s parents talking about it a few months ago.”

“So Marinette does know?” Adrien asked.

“Unless her parents told her after you left yesterday, no,” Plagg said. “Her parents didn’t see a need to tell her since she already liked you, so they didn’t bring it up.”

“Then I have to tell her?” Adrien asked nervously.

“Considering your father will almost definitely bring it up at dinner tonight, I think it’s probably better if she hears it from you,” Plagg advised. Adrien nodded. “Now you’re going to be late. Let’s go.”

“You just want to see Tikki,” Adrien teased.

“Considering she’s with your fiancée…” Plagg retorted, cackling when Adrien gaped at him. Plagg hid in Adrien’s pocket and they got in the car, heading to the theater where Adrien was to meet up with the others.

When they arrived at the theater, Adrien was surprised to see everyone was already there. The only person they were waiting on was him. He smiled when he saw Marinette. She was standing between Alya and Alix, wearing a short-sleeved, cropped red jacket over a short black dress and black ballet flats. The dress had a zipper down the front of the bodice with roses embroidered along the hem of the skirt and on either side of the zipper. Her hair was pulled up in a bun on the top of her head with a little rose pinned into it, and her purse was grey with red and black stitching instead of her usual pink. He climbed out of the car and walked over to her, throwing an arm around her shoulder confidently and kissing her temple.

“How is the prettiest princess in Paris today?” he asked, offering her a very Chat-like smile. She responded with a very Ladybug smirk of her own.

“I don’t know, how are you?” she asked in response. He pouted dejectedly while their friends burst out laughing.

“Marinette!” he whined. “You’re my princess!”

“And apparently you’re all of Paris’s princess, bro,” Nino piped up. 

“You hit Ladybug in the head with a frying pan!” Kim said, laughing.

“I thought she was the akuma!” Adrien defended himself.

“Why would she be the akuma?” Alix asked.

“Why wouldn’t she be the akuma? Why would she be up there?” Adrien huffed.

“You were a civilian in distress! She was trying to save you! It’s her job!” Alya reminded him, causing Marinette to giggle.

“Well, maybe she should have seen Tangled before she tried to save me!” Adrien said, pouting.

“She probably didn’t know what happened. She didn’t get there until she saw you get launched to the top of the Eiffel Tower yowling like an alley cat. She had no clue as to what was going on,” Marinette said.

“Isn’t it her job to know?” Adrien retorted.

“Doesn’t she constantly tell civilians to get out of the way of akuma attacks so they don’t have to be saved?” Mylene asked sweetly. Ivan nodded in agreement.

“Yes, well, I got stuck before I could run away,” Adrien tried.

“So you hit her with a frying pan?” Alya asked, smirking. 

“Are you sure you’re not secretly Hawk Moth?” Kim asked.

“100% sure,” Adrien deadpanned. Marinette looked up at him with a mischievous glint in her blue eyes that reminded him far too much of Plagg.

“How could you be 100% sure? Unless you’re Chat Noir or something…” his girlfriend said, trailing off at the end while everyone laughed. Adrien glared at her halfheartedly.

“You are being impawsible, Princess,” he complained.

“But you love me,” she said smugly.

“Yeah, you’re lucky,” he muttered. Marinette scoffed, feigning offense.

“I thought I was your Princess?” she asked, scandalized.

“I thought I was your Princess!” Adrien said, before realizing his mistake.

“So you admit it,” the others said in almost perfect unison.

“You’re impossible,” he sighed, shaking his head. Marinette leaned up on her toes and kissed his cheek.

“Love you too,” she said quietly, smiling at him. He pretended to be upset but cracked after a minute and smiled.

“Hey, Adrien, that shirt is really nice,” Mylene said. 

“It’s the one you were wearing on Friday, isn’t it? Where’d you get it?” Alya asked.

“Oh, it’s designer,” he said nonchalantly. No one noticed the light blush on Marinette’s cheeks.

“Which label? Is it one of your fathers?” Nino asked. Adrien usually only wore his father’s designs. Adrien smirked proudly.

“It’s, wait, Princess?” he said, looking down at Marinette. “What’s your label called?”

“I haven’t decided yet,” she said quietly. Everyone’s jaws dropped.

“Marinette, you made that?” Kim asked.

“And you got Adrien to wear it?” Alya asked.

“Hey, I’m wearing it proudly. I love this shirt, and the jeans. They're better than some of the stuff my dad makes,” Adrien said. “Plus they came from her.”

Marinette blushed under the attention, which only made Adrien smile more.

“Okay, now that the new couple is done being obnoxiously cute, shall we watch a movie?” Alix asked. They all chorused their agreement and walked in. Kim was snickering, apparently at the thought of Adrien secretly being Chat Noir and hitting Ladybug in the head on accident, and how ironic that would be. Adrien was relieved that none of them took Marinette’s comment seriously.

“Hey, Bugaboo, we need to talk,” he said, leaning to whisper in her ear so no one else would hear them. She frowned.

“Is something wrong?” she asked. “Is it a Ladybug and Chat problem or a Marinette and Adrien problem?”

“Marinette and Adrien,” he clarified. “It’s not exactly a problem, but it’s something we need to talk about.”

“Is it something we need to talk about right now? I can get us away from the group for a bit,” she offered. He thought for a minute and shook his head.

“No, we can talk at my house later. Let's enjoy the movie right now,” he decided, pecking her cheek. “Also, my dad wants you to stay over for dinner tonight.”

“Sounds good to me,” she said with a smile.

After the movie, they all walked back to the Agreste mansion and made their way to the pool. A tent with a screen, some microphones, and speakers was set up a safe ways away for karaoke, and plenty of towels and lawn chairs were arranged nearby with coolers of snacks. Everyone set up their stuff and went back inside to change into their swimsuits. Nino was the first one back and immediately went over to the music set up, followed by Kim, Alix, Ivan, Mylene, and Adrien. Alya and Marinette were the last to appear. Marinette walked over to the lawn chairs, presumably to take off her cover-up, while Alya walked over to Adrien.

“Hey, Adrien, do you have any umbrellas?” Alya asked. Adrien frowned.

“Of course? Why do you need one?” he asked. It was a sunny day, without a cloud in sight. Alya smiled as if she had an evil scheme in mind.

“You’ll see. Can you get one?” she asked. “Actually, two would be better.”

“Okay…” Adrien said, tilting his head in confusion before going to get the umbrellas. When he got back, Alya was talking to Nino animatedly. “Here you go.”

“Perfect!” Alya cheered, before turning to the group. “Okay, so we have karaoke all set up. I was thinking that, in honor of the akuma on Friday that got both Ladynoir and Adrienette together on the same day, we should do Disney karaoke!”

“Dibs on Make a Man Out of You!” Kim called. Everyone turned to him in surprise. “What? That song is iconic.”

“Fair enough,” Alya said. “But first, I think we should have Marinette start us off.”

“What?” the girl in question squeaked when she noticed the umbrellas in her best friend’s hands. “Alya, that’s really not necessary…”

“Come on, girl! Show off a little! Nino already has your song pulled up, and I have the props! You know you want to,” Alya said, waving her over. Except for fidgeting with the zipper of her cover-up, Marinette seemed frozen in place. The others started chanting her name to encourage her.

“I’d love to hear you sing,” Adrien said, walking over with one hand held out to her. She took it reluctantly.

“She doesn’t want me to sing…” Marinette mumbled. Adrien looked at her in confusion.

“Then what—”

“She’ll sing later, Adrien, don’t worry,” Alya said. She darted forward and grabbed Marinette’s arm, passing off one of the umbrellas in a practiced motion. The two had a silent conversation, full of pleading glares from Marinette and smiles from Alya that were simultaneously smug and innocent. It seemed Alya won whatever argument they were having, if Marinette’s resigned sigh was any indication. She took a deep breath and turned away from the others, posing with the umbrella as if it were a cane. Alya shuffled everyone to sit on the lawn chairs to watch before darting to the side with the other umbrella and opening it, holding it in front of her like a screen. Marinette nodded to Nino, and an unexpected [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPCJIB1f7jk) started to play.

She began to dance, twirling the umbrella with the same ease Chat twirled his baton. She began to lip sync the words to Singing in the Rain almost mindlessly. They cheered when she pirouetted and moved with a grace that they didn’t know she was actually capable of. Then she ducked behind the umbrella Alya was holding, and everyone waited in anticipation for what would come next.

They were not prepared.

The beat changed to a much more recognizable—and even less expected, though they really should have seen this coming—song, and Alya moved the umbrella to reveal Marinette in a Chat Noir-themed, high waisted bikini. Adrien watched her with wide eyes while the rest of the group cheered her on. There was a noticeable blush dusted across her cheeks, but she strutted back out to the beat of Rihanna’s Umbrella, lip syncing the words with confidence. They all stood up to cheer her on, but Adrien almost fell over again watching her. If it wasn’t for Alya appearing seemingly out of nowhere to steady him, he definitely would have hit the ground.

He was not ready for her to walk over and dance against him, much to the amusement of everyone else in the group. He tried to channel Chat and get into it but he was pretty much frozen in place until she walked away, back towards the pool. At the perfect moment she turned back and water fell around her courtesy of a hose Alya managed to find and use to mimic rain. Adrien wasn’t quite sure when she had put down her umbrella, but she was able to move more freely without it, and she finished the routine with all the confidence she has as Ladybug, and possibly a few tricks she mastered in the suit before attempting without it.

She was lying on the grass to catch her breath as the song ended, and all of the teenagers erupted into cheers. All but one, anyway. Adrien had sat down heavily on his chair, her performance stuck on repeat inside his head until he noticed Marinette laughing and bowing dramatically. She looked shy and slightly embarrassed but still confident and happy and it made him smile. He walked over to her and picked her up, spinning her around as she shrieked in surprise.

“That was amazing,” he gushed as he set her down again, kissing the tip of her nose. She giggled and pulled away.

“Why, thank you,” she said with a bright smile.

“Hey, DC! How many times have you practiced that?” Kim asked.

“More than I’m willing to admit to,” she said. “But now that I’ve made a fool of myself, I think it’s time for everyone else to start singing.”

“Guys against girls for the first round!” Alya cheered. Everyone seemed to agree and split into two groups to pick their songs. The guys decided to go first.

"Hakuna Matata!” Nino started, stepping forward with a grand gesture while Alya cheered embarrassingly.  
"What a wonderful phrase”

"Hakuna Matata!” Kim joined in.  
"Ain't no passing craze"

"It means no worries  
For the rest of your days,” Ivan sang, and the three guys joined together for the next part.  
"It's our problem-free philosophy:  
Hakuna Matata!”

“Hakuna matata?” Mylene asked, wondering why they chose that song in particular.

“Yeah, its our motto!” Nino replied with a smug smile.

“What’s a motto?” Kim stage whispered to Ivan, loud enough that everyone could hear. Adrien’s smirk made Marinette groan preemptively.

“Nothing, what’s a motto with you?” the blond said, laughing when Marinette face-palmed.

“You know, these two words will really set you free,” Nino said.

“Yeah, take Kim for example!” Ivan said, before singing the next line of the song.  
“Why, when he was a young warthog…”

"When I was a young wart-hoooog!” Kim sang dramatically.

“Very nice,” Nino deadpanned.

“Thanks!” Kim replied.

“He found his aroma lacked a certain appeal,  
He could clear the Savannah after every meal…” Ivan sang.

“I'm a sensitive soul, though I seem thick-skinned...  
And it hurt that my friends never stood downwind!” Kim sang, dropping to his knees as he sang the next line.  
“And oh, the shame!”

“He was ashamed!” Nino sang, his gestures ridiculously over the top.

“Thought of changin' my name!” Kim sang.

“Oh, what's in a name?” Ivan asked, joining Nino in his dramatic antics.

“And I got downhearted…” Kim sang, looking up at the sky.

“How did you feel?” Nino and Ivan asked. Kim answered with a sly smirk.

“Every time that I—”

“Kim! Not in front of the girls!” Ivan scolded, causing the girls to scoff.

“Oh… sorry,” Kim apologized, and all three of them launched back into the song.

“Hakuna Matata!  
What a wonderful phrase!  
Hakuna Matata!  
Ain't no passing craze…”

“It means no worries,” Adrien sang, stepping out in front of the others.  
“For the rest of your days!” 

“Yeah, sing it, kid!” Nino cheered.

“It's our problem-free philosophy,” the four sang together.  
“Hakuna Matata!”

They danced ridiculously during the instrumental bit of the song, fully intending for the girls to laugh at them.

“Hakuna Matata,” Kim started chanting, as if he were hyping them up for a game. They all quickly joined in.  
“Hakuna Matata,  
Hakuna Matata,  
Hakuna—"

“It means no worries,  
For the rest of your days!” Adrien sang, motioning for the guys to sing along to the last few lines.

“It's our problem-free philosophy:  
Hakuna Matata!”

All of the girls cheered as the song ended, and the boys bowed ridiculously. Marinette walked over to Adrien with a smirk.

"You know, I think Chat missed out on a perfectly good pun after the battle on Friday," she said, catching everyone's attention.

"Oh? What was that?" Adrien asked.

"Akuma Matata," she said with a grin. "Such a wonderful phrase, don't you think?"

"I love you," Adrien said. Marinette's smile brightened, but the girls chose that moment to drag her away so they could take their turn.

They chose The Gospel Truth from Hercules. Alya took on the role of the main Muse, and Marinette, Alix, and Mylene alternated lines from the others while completely rocking out and showing off with all of the riffs and vocalizations in the song. Nino cheered the loudest after that performance.

The day continued like that. Kim, true to his word, sang Make a Man Out of You, and even acted out the scene with Alix playing Mulan and the other three guys playing Ling, Yao, and Chien-Po. Adrien soloed Friend Like Me from Aladdin. Alya stunned everyone with her rendition of Almost There from Princess and the Frog. Nino responded to his girlfriend by choosing Ma Belle Evangeline from the same movie and dedicating it to her, which earned him a kiss at the end. Marinette decided to follow Nino’s train of thought and dedicated [I Wonder](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxHtZsArHoc) from Sleeping Beauty to Adrien, in honor of his time as the sleeping princess. Alix switched things up by choosing Poor Unfortunate Souls. Ivan and Mylene teamed up to sing Something There from Beauty and the Beast, and Alya and Nino backed them up at the end when Cogsworth, Lumiere, and Mrs. Potts start singing.

Eventually Adrien jumped up and ran over to choose another song, bringing back two microphones.

“Marinette? Will you duet this with me?” he asked. She raised an eyebrow as she took the microphone from him.

“Do I know this song?” she asked. He smiled in response.

“Maybe,” he replied.

“Does this have anything to do with what you said in my kitchen after Ladybug and Chat Noir purified the akuma on Friday?” she asked. He nodded, smiling widely. “Of course it does. Yeah, I know this song. Let’s do it.”

He kissed her cheek and waved to Nino to tell him to hit play. They didn’t notice Alya pulling out her phone to record them. Adrien started the [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHSM1nC-VH4), holding Marinette’s hand gently as he sang to her.

“A long long time ago,  
There was a volcano  
Living all alone in the middle of the sea.

He sat high above his bay  
Watching all the couples play  
And wishing that he had someone too...

And from his lava came  
This song of hope that he sang out loud  
Every day  
For years and years:

I have a dream  
I hope will come true  
That you're here with me  
And I'm here with you!  
I wish that the earth, sea, and the sky up above-a  
Will send me someone to lava…”

Marinette smiled and squeezed his hand as she took up the next verse.

“Years of singing all alone  
Turned his lava into stone  
Until he was on the brink of extinction!  
But little did he know  
That living in the sea below  
Another volcano  
Was listening to his song.

Everyday she heard his tune  
Her lava grew and grew  
Because she believed his song was meant for her.  
Now she was so ready to meet him above the sea  
As he sang his song of hope for the last time…

I have a dream  
I hope will come true  
That you're here with me  
And I am here with you!  
I wish that the earth, sea, and the sky up above-a  
Will send me someone to lava…”

Adrien smiled and kissed her hand before singing again.

“Rising from the sea below  
Stood a lovely volcano.  
Looking all around  
But she could not see him.  
He tried to sing to let her know  
That she was not there alone  
But with no lava, his song was all gone…  
He filled the sea with his tears,  
Watched his dreams disappear  
As she remembered what his song meant to her…”

They sang the rest of the song together.

“I have a dream  
I hope will come true  
That you're here with me  
And I am here with you!  
I wish that the earth, sea, and the sky up above-a  
Will send me someone to lava…

Oh they were so happy  
To finally meet above the sea!  
All together now their lava grew and grew.  
No longer are they all alone,  
With Aloha as their new home,  
And when you go and visit them this is what they sing:

I have a dream I hope it will come true  
That you will grow old with me, and I will grow old with you!  
We thank the earth, sea, and the sky we thank too  
I lava you!  
I lava you!  
I lava you!”

When the song ended, Adrien pulled Marinette close and kissed her, ignoring the whistles and cheers from their friends. They only parted when Alix and Kim finally splashed water at them.

“I thought you two got the obnoxiously cute stuff out of your system already,” Alix grumbled teasingly, laughing at Marinette’s blush.

“We will never get it out of our system,” Adrien declared proudly, raising Marinette’s hand to press a kiss to her knuckles.

“I think it’s cute,” Mylene said, giving Ivan a kiss on his cheek.

“Thank you,” Adrien said. The rest of the group rolled their eyes and Alya went over to Nino, who was finding new music to play until someone else decided to sing. Marinette pulled Adrien aside.

“Hey, what did you need to talk to me about earlier?” she asked. Adrien cursed under his breath.

“I forgot about that. Um, I don’t know how to tell you this…” he said. Marinette was worried when she saw how nervous he looked.

“Adrien? What’s wrong?” she asked. “You can tell me anything.”

“I know, it’s just, I don’t know how to tell you this or if you already know but if you don’t know I should be the one to tell you and not my father because that would just be weird but I just—”

“Adrien, breathe,” she said, reaching up to cup his cheek gently. He nodded and took a deep breath.

“Okay. I’m okay. So, I found out today that apparently our parents, specifically our mothers, have been friends for years,” he said. She frowned.

“Okay…and that’s bad because…?” she asked, not seeing the connection. He shook his head.

“I told you, this isn’t a bad thing. It’s just a little weird,” he said. She waited patiently for him to continue. “Apparently when we were born, they put together a marriage contract for us. We’re, um, we’re engaged.”

For a long moment, Marinette didn’t say anything. She seemed frozen in place, staring at him with wide eyes. Adrien wasn’t sure how he imagined she would react, but he knew he expected some sort of reaction from her. When she still hadn’t moved after a few minutes, Adrien waved a hand in front of her eyes to try to snap her back into reality. Alya appeared behind him.

“Hey, are you guys okay?” she asked, frowning at Marinette. “What happened? She looks like she’s playing dead or something…”

Hearing Alya’s voice must have snapped Marinette out of whatever trance she was in because she blinked very quickly a few times. Adrien braced himself for a scream, but it never came. Marinette swayed on her feet, and he rushed forward to catch her before she fell.

“Marinette? What happened?” Alya asked again, more desperately this time. Adrien shook his head.

“She got some surprising news, is all,” he said, lifting Marinette and carrying her over to the lawn chairs.

“Are you going to tell me what you said?” she asked. Adrien just shook his head and reached into a cooler for a bottle of water. Marinette woke up a couple of minutes later, seeing all of her friends crowded around her. Adrien wordlessly passed her the water.

“What, um, what happened?” she asked.

“We were hoping you could tell us,” Nino said. “You were talking to Adrien and then you just passed out.”

“Oh. I um, I guess I just overheated or something,” she lied. Alya frowned, but when no one else seemed like they were going to ask questions she sighed. It was the kind of sigh that told both Adrien and Marinette that she would be pressing them for what really happened later. For now, they settled for keeping an eye on her and enjoying the rest of the day.

Eventually everyone changed back out of their swimsuits and made their way home, leaving just Adrien and Marinette in the mansion. They were standing in the foyer just after the door closed when Mr. Agreste made his way down the stairs.

“Ah, Miss Dupain-Cheng. It’s nice to see you,” he said, motioning towards the door into the dining room. “Please, make yourself at home.”

“Y-yes, sir,” she stammered. Adrien put his hand on her lower back and lead her into the dining room. They were all quiet while dinner was being served.

“So, Miss Dupain-Cheng,” Mr. Agreste started, breaking the silence, “I’ve been wondering about the designs you made for my son.”

“What about them?” she asked, doing her best to hide her nerves.

“First and foremost, why black jeans with that shirt? I personally would have paired it with khakis,” he said, taking a sip of his wine.

“You would be right,” Marinette admitted. “That shirt was designed to go with khakis. The reason I paired it with black jeans was because that was what I had completed in Adrien’s measurements, and I believe that when in doubt, black goes with everything. I haven’t been able to find an affordable khaki material that I’ve been satisfied with yet. The pants are from a different outfit I had designed this summer, but I haven’t completed the shirt for that design either.”

“Oh? What is the other outfit?” Mr. Agreste asked. Adrien looked over curiously too.

“It’s a Chat Noir themed outfit, sir,” she said. “This summer, I was learning how to dye material by hand. The blue shirt was one of my first successful attempts. I wanted to hand-dye the material for the Chat Noir shirt, but I haven’t been able to make the colors cooperate yet. I may have to change my idea, but I’m going to try a few more times first.”

“I see. If you want an expert’s advice, you can come to me. Just let Adrien know in advance so Natalie can add it to my schedule,” Mr. Agreste said.

“Thank you, sir,” she said. It was all she could do to maintain her composure.

“It’s the least I can do for my future daughter-in-law,” Mr. Agreste said. “I’m sure you’ve heard about the agreement already.”

“Yes, sir. Adrien told me today,” she said, looking to her boyfriend for help.

“It’s been a bit of a shock for both of us,” Adrien admitted.

“Yes, that is understandable. But I’m glad that we’re all on the same page,” Mr. Agreste said. “Now, I understand why you would look up to Chat Noir. After all, he is considered a hero. However, I would like to ask you to distance yourself from him. His power is all about destruction. I would hate to see you get hurt because of him.”

Adrien tensed, his face paling. His father’s words made sense, especially after what happened on Friday, but why would he even bring that up? Did he know something? Was he going to attempt to micromanage Marinette as well?

“With all due respect, sir, I don’t think I can do that,” Marinette said, her voice respectful but still sharp. “Like you said, Chat Noir is a hero. In fact, he’s my hero. He’s saved me more times than I can count. I like to think of him as a friend of mine, but at the very least he is someone I look up to and respect and care about. I don’t believe that just because someone could be dangerous, they automatically are. I know he would never intentionally hurt a civilian, and that alone is good enough for me.”

“Very well,” Mr. Agreste conceded after several moments. The rest of the dinner was silent, and afterwards Adrien and Marinette went to his room to watch a movie until it was time for her to go home.

When the nightmares came back that night, it was inevitable that Chat Noir found himself tapping on the glass of Marinette’s trapdoor. It was inevitable that she woke up and let him in. It was inevitable that they fell asleep together, and that Adrien woke up early to transform and go home before Natalie went to wake him for the first day of school and found him missing. It was inevitable that when he saw it was raining, Adrien had the Gorilla stop by Marinette’s house so he could walk up to school with her, the two of them sharing one umbrella.

Perhaps, given all that they know now, they should have realized years ago that their relationship was inevitable too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's the end! I don't have any plans for a sequel right now, but the beauty of the plot twist is that if I did do a sequel, it could just be arranged marriage shenanigans and how they deal with that.
> 
> Marinette's dance routine was originally just something I wanted to have, and then I listened to the lyrics and realized "You have my heart, and we'll never be worlds apart/Maybe in magazines, but you'll still be my star/.../Said I'll always be your friend/.../You can stand under my umbrella..." It's so them, I love it.
> 
> Also, I hope you caught that Marinette's outfit was inspired by Prince Philip, which I thought was appropriate.
> 
> For your entertainment, Gabriel's full conversation with Tom:
> 
> Tom: They're finally together? To the wedding!
> 
> Gabriel: Now, be reasonable, Tom. After all, Adrien knows nothing about all this.
> 
> Tom: Well?
> 
> Gabriel: Well, it may come as quite a shock.
> 
> Tom: (Spits out his wine) Shock? My daughter a shock? What's wrong with my Marinette?
> 
> Gabriel: Nothing, Tom. I only meant...
> 
> Tom: Why doesn't your son like my daughter?
> 
> Gabriel: Now, now...
> 
> Tom: I'm not so sure my daughter likes your son!
> 
> Gabriel: Now, see here...
> 
> Tom: I'm not so sure my grandchildren want you for a grandfather!
> 
> Gabriel: How dare you?
> 
> Tom: How dare I? This means war!
> 
> (Grabs a baguette and brandishes it like a sword. Sabine walks in.)
> 
> Sabine: What is going on here? Tom, you're being ridiculous!
> 
> Tom: Gabriel, what are we doing?
> 
> Gabriel: Nothing, Tom. Absolutely nothing.
> 
> Tom: Those children are bound to fall in love with each other!
> 
> Gabriel: Precisely. If you ask me, I think they may have already. We should break the news soon. I'll tell him today. Goodbye.


End file.
